Voting wraps up on Tuesday in elections across various states and localities, and perhaps the most prominent race is one that was only called a few months ago.
A special election in California allows state voters to weigh in on what has now become a national redistricting battle between the two major parties ahead of next year’s midterm elections.
Here are details on that race and three others we’re watching on Election Day. (And when the polls close, find the results of these key races here.)
California Redistricting
Proposition 50 would replace California’s current congressional lines with a map favorable to Democrats.
This maneuver is Gov. Gavin Newsom’s response to President Trump pressuring Texas and other Republican-led states to redraw their congressional maps to give Republicans a better chance of holding their slim majority in the U.S. House.
If voters approve Prop 50 — which seems likely —, the new districts could help Democrats pick up as many as five additional seats in the House in the 2026, 2028, and 2030 elections. The proposition is written to expire after the 2030 election, returning the power to draw lines to the state’s existing independent citizen redistricting commission.
— KQED’s Guy Marzorati
New York City Mayor
Zohran Mamdani, a self-declared democratic socialist and leader in the race for mayor of the country’s largest city, trounced former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and nine other Democrats in the primaries with a grassroots campaign that inspired younger voters through an unrelenting focus on making New York more affordable.
His primary victory energized sectors of the party’s base, while making him a target for Republicans nationwide.
Cuomo chose to stay in the mayoral race by running as an independent. He criticized Mamdani as too inexperienced to deal with Trump. Cuomo also argued that the state legislator’s campaign platform, which includes free buses and universal childcare, cannot be implemented.
If elected, Mamdani would be the city’s first Muslim mayor and, at 34 years old, the youngest in more than a century.
— WNYC’s Brigid Bergin
New Jersey Governor
The two main candidates for governor in New Jersey are tied in a tight race.
Trump has been campaigning virtually for the Republican Jack Ciattarelli, a former small business owner who narrowly lost the gubernatorial election four years ago. Democratic Rep. Mikie Sherrill, a former Navy pilot, held an endorsement rally with former President Barack Obama on Saturday and holds a slight edge over Ciattarelli in recent polls.
Polls also show that issues like housing affordability and high utility bills are top of mind for voters, but the race has been dominated in recent weeks by personal attacks from both sides.
If Sherrill wins, it would be the first time since the 1960s that New Jersey voters elect a governor from the same party for three consecutive terms.
— WNYC’s Mike Hayes
Virginia Governor
Democrats are hopeful that history is on their side, as the party in power in the White House usually loses the gubernatorial race in Virginia.
In her campaign, Democrat Abigail Spanberger, a former member of Congress, has hammered the rising cost of living and voters’ anxiety over Trump administration cuts to the federal workforce. The Republican, Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, has campaigned on fighting crime, cutting taxes, and proposals to ban transgender students from participating in girls’ sports and women’s bathrooms in public schools.
Whichever candidate wins will make history as Virginia’s first female governor. Earle-Sears would be the first Black woman elected governor in the U.S.
— WAMU’s Margaret Barthel
Source: npr.org by NPR Staff