Supporters of Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic candidate for mayor of New York City, react after his victory was announced at a watch party in New York. Photograph: Vincent Alban/The New York Times
It was the wave election of 2025.
Democrats, furious about US president Donald Trump’s remaking of American government and society, turned out in extraordinary numbers for an off-year election to sweep virtually every competitive election on the map.
The results served as a rebuke of Trump and his Republican Party and a salve for Democrats who have not had many good nights in the past year. Next will come a fierce, yearlong fight, first in redistricting battles and then the midterm elections, for control of the House of Representatives and the fate of Trump’s agenda during the final two years of his term.
Here are six takeaways from the first major elections of the second Trump era.
1. Democrats finally showed some fight
Democrats have spent the past year locked out of power in Washington, searching furiously but mostly in vain for ways to stop Trump from expanding his power.
They held protests, spoke all night in the Senate and organised “No Kings” rallies that drew millions across the country.
On Tuesday, they finally
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