Bill Press: Jubilation!

Bill Press, Tribune Content Agency on Nov 6, 2025

It feels good, doesn’t it?

Democrats deserve to break out into a full-throated chorus of “Happy Days are Here Again” after their amazing string of victories on November 4.

There’s no way Donald Trump or MAGA fanatics can spin it otherwise. For Democrats, this was a total blowout. A governor’s race in Virginia; a governor’s race in New Jersey; a mayor’s race in New York City; and a ballot measure in California. Every one of those elections was a referendum on Donald Trump. And every outcome was his total repudiation. He lost every one of them. Big time.

For Democrats, it was one triumph after another. In Virginia, Abigail Spanberger trounced her Republican opponent by 15 points, becoming the state’s first female governor. Voters also elected a Democratic lieutenant governor and attorney general, and awarded Democrats a near two-thirds majority in the House of Delegates.

Many analysts predicted a close race in New Jersey, where Republican Jack Ciattarelli had Trump’s endorsement. No way. Democrats Mikie Sherrill soared to a 13-point victory, in part by blasting Trump for terminating the new tunnel project linking New Jersey commuters with New York.

In New York City, Trump did everything he could to derail Zohran Mamdani: talked Eric Adams into dropping out of the race; begged Republican Curtis Sliwa to drop out; threatened to deny the city any federal funding if Mamdani won; and, in the end, even endorsed his long-time enemy Andrew Cuomo. It all backfired. Mamdani got more votes than Cuomo and Sliwa combined, and on Election Night had the pleasure of looking into the cameras and telling Trump directly: Mr. President, we’re talking to you: “Turn the volume up!”

The biggest blowout of all came in California’s Proposition 50. When Trump ordered Texas to redraw its congressional district lines in order to give Republicans five more seats, Governor Gavin Newsom decided to “fight fire with fire” and ask California voters to do the same, empowering Democrats to pick up five more seats. Prop. 50 won overwhelmingly, 64 percent to 36 percent – and 75 percent of “yes” voters said they were voting to send a message to Donald Trump.

Again, there’s no way to downplay the national significance of those four contests. It was the first time voters had a chance to vote thumbs up or thumbs down on Donald Trump since January – and they clearly don’t like what he’s doing. In the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll, Trump’s disapproval rating soared to 59 percent. Trump’s a loser.

Tuesday’s solid election results give Democrats a burst of momentum going into midterm elections, less than a year away. They also provide Democrats a few important lessons, moving forward.

One, the quality of candidates matters. Spanberger, Sherrill and Mamdani each ran an extraordinary campaign, full of energy, bold new ideas and generated tons of enthusiasm, especially among younger voters.

Two, the age of candidates matters. Americans are tired of today’s sclerotic political leadership. Experience is not such a big deal anymore because, as Mamdani pointed out, politicians with years of experience got us into today’s political mess. Young leaders like Spanberger, Sherrill and Mamdani are the future of the Democratic Party. Old fossils like Chuck Schumer are not.

Three, issues matter. It may seem insightful to talk about such weighty issues as threats to democracy or loss of our moral compass. But that’s not what voters want to hear about. They want to know what you’re going to do about soaring rents, lack of affordable housing, availability of childcare and the price of groceries. Every pre-election poll showed that the most important issues facing voters were not crime, immigration or trans – but the cost of living and healthcare. And that’s all Spanberger, Sherrill and Mamdani talked about. The central issue of their winning campaigns was “affordability.”

Tuesday’s off-year elections were so important because they gave Democrats the winning formula for winning back the House and Senate in 2026. Field candidates like Abigail Spanberger, Mikie Sherrill and Zohran Mamdani. It doesn’t matter if they’re progressive or centrist. Just pick the candidate that best suits that state or district – as long as they’re younger, full of energy and bold ideas, focus on the cost of living and dare to take on Donald Trump.

In that spirit, kudos to Nancy Pelosi for setting an example by passing the torch to the next generation. Once again, she’s shown what a great leader she is, and why she’ll be remembered as the most powerful and most effective Speaker of the House ever.

(Bill Press is host of The BillPressPod, and author of 10 books, including: “From the Left: My Life in the Crossfire.” His email address is: bill@billpress.com. Readers may also follow him on Twitter @billpresspod and on BlueSky @BillPress.bsky.social.)