Image Credits: World Economic Forum via Flickr
After polls closed on Election Day, Nov. 4, the Democratic Party saw several victories around the United States. This comes after losing the presidency and Senate control in the 2024 Election. While these victories have been seen at several levels of government across multiple states, there are some that are especially important to note:
PA Supreme Court Retentions
On Pennsylvania’s ballot, three key Democrat state Supreme Court justices were up for retention: Justices Christine Donohue, Kevin Dougherty and David Wecht. Without these justices’ retention, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court would have two Democrats and two Republicans until the end of 2027, essentially making it so all court decisions would be deadlocked. This would have greatly impacted any major legal decisions and prevent legal precedents to be created, as these legal decisions need the agreement of at least four court justices. Now, justices Dougherty and Wecht will serve another 10-year term, while Justice Donohue will serve until 2027, when she will reach the mandatory retirement age for justices, being age 75.
This win is especially important currently, as it was these justices who struck down the 2011 Congressional map in 2018, which they ruled to be “unconstitutional” and gerrymandered in favor of Republicans. With the Democrat-controlled state Supreme Court, it further prevents Republicans from creating a trifecta between the courts, the House and Senate and the governorship, which would make it difficult for redistricting to affect Pennsylvania in the wave of redistricting efforts before midterms. The state Supreme Court also overturned a decades-old ban on Medicaid dollars going towards abortions, a precedent set in 1985 that considered “physical characteristics unique to one sex” exempt from being considered a form of sex discrimination under the state constitution’s Equal Rights Amendment. While Medicaid still does not cover abortions (except in the case of rape, incest or life endangerment), it set the precedent that “abortion restrictions could be considered sex-based discriminations,” and this distinction is “presumptively unconstitutional,” according to Spotlight PA.
New Jersey Elects First Female Democrat Governor
Mikie Sherrill, U.S. Representative for New Jersey’s 11th District, won the state’s gubernatorial election. Due to her win, New Jersey’s governor seat remains blue, succeeding current Democrat governor Phil Murphy. She won against Republican Jack Ciattarelli, with this being his third bid for the governorship, winning 56.5% of the votes. She is New Jersey’s second female governor, after Christine Whitman, but is the state’s first female Democrat governor.
She campaigned on New Jersey becoming increasingly unaffordable, especially due to rising taxes, and how she is advocating for tax relief, lowering healthcare costs and fighting against price gouging. She also plans to fight against the rising cost of groceries by introducing a bill that would give incentives to smaller stores, competing with bigger chains and lowering costs. She has also supported New Jersey’s constitution protecting the right to an abortion, requiring insurance coverage for reproductive healthcare services and ensuring access to reproductive healthcare needs. Her platform has included much more, including affordable public transit, increasing home construction and bringing back federal funding to improve schools facing disparities after COVID.
Virginia Elects First Female Governor
Abigail Spanberger, a former U.S. Representative for Virginia, won the state’s gubernatorial election against Republican Winsome Earle-Sears. Earle-Sears is the current Lieutenant Governor of Virginia, serving with Glenn Youngkin, who has been term-limited. Spanberger won the governorship by 57.1% of votes, possibly signalling how citizens are feeling about the current federal government, especially since several government employees — including Pentagon employees — live in the state and are being affected by the current government shutdown, according to BBC. Due to Spanberger’s win, Democrats now control the governor’s seat and both chambers of Congress.
She campaigned on making Virginia more affordable for citizens who work hard, but are not getting ahead, intending to lower the cost of healthcare, housing and energy bills. She also believes that it is more important than ever to protect reproductive rights, saying how Virginia is the “only state in the South that has yet to roll back protections for women’s reproductive rights,” vowing to protect the right to an abortion, IVF and contraception. She also wants to improve education, planning on getting schools funding they need and addressing teacher shortages. Other values include ensuring marriage equality, having retired Virginians receive their benefits and making sure energy needs are met while providing incentives for increased clean energy sources.
Zohran Mamdani to Become the Next NYC Mayor
Zohran Mamdani, a self-described democratic socialist, has become the mayor-elect for New York City. He faced off against former Governor of New York Andrew Cuomo (who ran as an Independent, after losing the Democrat primary to Mamdani) and Republican Curtis Sliwa, founder of the Guardian Angels, a nonprofit crime prevention organization in New York City. His platform was based on making New York a less expensive place to live and making life there easier for its citizens, saying on his campaign website, “New York is too expensive. Zohran will lower costs and make life easier.” Also on his platform website, he promised “freezing the rent, fast and fare free buses, no cost childcare, taxing corporations and the 1%, raising the minimum wage to $30 by 2030 and making NYC a queer sanctuary city,” among many other promises.
Mamdani won the election by 50.4%, with Cuomo receiving 41.6% of votes, and Sliwa receiving 7.1%. He also won every NYC borough except Staten Island, in which Cuomo won. Mamdani’s victory is one of many firsts, as he is the first Muslim and first person from South Asian descent to hold NYC’s mayoral position, and is also being the youngest NYC mayor since John Purroy Mitchel in 1914 at age 34. His win could potentially set a precedent for future progressive politicians, especially since similar progressive politicians have remained stagnant in their positions, namely Bernie Sanders, who has endorsed Mamdani.
California’s Prop 50 Passes
Proposition 50 (nicknamed Prop 50), an effort backed by Gov. Gavin Newsom to redraw California’s congressional map to add five more Democrat seats, passed Tuesday night. This proposition was created in response to Texas Republicans redrawing their congressional map to include five more Republican seats before the 2026 Midterm Election, done in an effort to maintain House control. While several states are proposing redistricting, California’s effort remains one of the most high-profile cases, especially since it is described as a “direct response” to Texas’ actions, according to the California Democrats website. Newsom described this move as “fighting fire with fire” in an interview with historian Heather Cox Richardson.
Prop 50 passed in California with nearly 64% of Californians voting “yes” to the redistricting plan. Now that this proposition has won voter approval, it can now be implemented, not violating Article XXI of California’s Constitution, which states that any redistricting plans before the census must acquire voter approval. Despite this, California Republicans filed a lawsuit challenging the map hours after it was approved, stating that it violated the 14th and 15th Amendments for redistricting to “favor Hispanic voters.” On X, the Governor Newsom Press Office stated that the lawsuit was going to fail, ending off with, “Good luck, losers.”
Jack Snock is a fourth-year Political Science major with a Journalism minor. AS993182@wcupa.edu.