Being as sincere as they are realistic, the polls did not accompany the Republican Party in any of the electoral events that last morning returned the Democrats to the scenes of champagne corks and confetti. But what was not expected is that it was harvested and in a quote that started with several premises that are so evident that they made Trump himself speak out forcefully. “Trump was not on the ballot,” Trump said.
That of being the first appointment with the polls after the promised deployment of ultra policies of a Trump Administration that has a Republican majority in both chambers, Congress and Senate. But also that of being the first test, before the citizens, of a closure of the federal government – due to lack of understanding between both parties – that this Wednesday – a mark that the first Trump Administration already held with 35 -.
In fact, Trump himself, in his mention of himself, also took the opportunity to discharge all responsibility for the defeats at the polls in that “government shutdown”, which together with his absence as a voter figure, “were the two reasons why the Republicans lost the elections tonight, according to electoral analysts.” He probably referred to those of Fox News.
All in all, the Republican Party and the president face a political axiom just around the corner on the calendar. Next year the midtermmid-term elections in which the renewal could translate into the loss of the historic power that they currently have in Congress and the Senate. And that explains the reformist capacity and the ability to materialize policies that Trump does have in this mandate, compared to the first. Beyond the excuses and the outbursts of those who begin to lose support for him, each of the following Democratic victories forms a key that explains the debacle as a whole and why this is not just any defeat for Trump.
‘New York, New York, New Mayoooor’: Mamdani revolutionizes the Big Apple
Of all the electoral events this past morning, the one for the mayor of New York was the one in which the majority of projections have ended up hitting the nail on the head. He will be the next mayor of the Big Apple with electoral promises that explain why his opponents call him a dangerous “communist.” He will be the first Muslim and anti-Zionist mayor in Manhattan, but with openly socialist proposals such as: free buses and daycare, freezing rental prices or access to medicines and healthcare on account of a tax increase on the rich classes.
Already in the crosshairs of Trump, who has been saying for weeks that if a Muslim mayor emerges in the city of the 9/11 attacks he should be arrested, Mamdani not only paves the way for the opposition against Trump and a Republican Party dominated by the whip of the MAGA movement, he also poses an answer to the question that many are asking when polls indicate that discontent with the Trump Administration is growing. Or rather, who are the Democrats to watch?
Mamdani represents that he has only allowed candidates to be promoted in primaries who do not propose any break with American politics and, more specifically, with what that bipartisan policy dares to offer in terms of solutions and reforms. Precisely, the economic side, that is, fixing the runaway price of a steak, is where Trump falters the most and what cost him reelection against a Biden who did know how to take advantage of the discontent over the economic impact of the coronavirus crisis in the US.
So, can this councilor who is only around thirty years old be the one who gives wings and the definitive push to that wave of Democratic voices that has so often been silenced due to the unrealistic belief that a Bernie Sanders or an Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez could reach the White House and materialize from it? It’s probably a question Trump is more afraid of than having to field his successor — against an old-fashioned Democrat.
Virginia and New Jersey… are they already waiting for the National Guard?
Country roads, take me homethe Democrats can sing this Wednesday morning in the State of Virginia. Abigail Spanberger has become the first female elector governor in the history of this territory with a markedly rural character. A priorione of those places that explain why Trump is the president with the highest popular vote rate in the history of the North American country.
Spangerber has defeated another woman seeking to achieve the milestone, Republican Winsome Earle-Sears. He has done so overwhelmingly, with 55% of the votes. We are not talking about retaining a traditionally Democratic position such as the mayor of New York. Virginia is a state that has been controlled by Republicans for the last four years and is now passing into Democratic hands.
The real surprise in terms of winning a state has been in New Jersey, where it was not so clear that former Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill could beat Republican Jack Ciattarelli and retain the territory that fired Democratic Governor Phil Murphy, who could no longer run for another term due to the legal limitation. The blow to Ciattarelli is triple, since he tried to become governor of New Jersey three times, but he is also a close ally of Donald Trump himself. As an adult, Sherrill also debuts as the first female governor in the history of New Jersey.
But New Jersey is a relatively volatile state in terms of American bipartisanship. To give you an idea, this has been the first time in a whopping half-century that a party has managed to retain the seat of this state for more than two consecutive terms. Furthermore, in the last general election, the Republicans seemed to begin to close the gap. If in 2020 Biden scored 20 points, in 2024 Kamala only scored 10 points. That trend seems to have faded. Do you know what roadmap Sherrill came up with? The increase in the cost of living and public services.
Proposition 50, or Newsom’s ‘California dreamin’ to wake up Democrats
The other major flank of the battle that ended with a Trumpist debacle and, paradoxically, in which no one with real names and surnames was elected, took place in the west. However, that does not mean that it was not an election that did end up giving support to a politician, on this occasion, also a Democrat. And the name they are looking for is Gavin Newsom, the governor of California.
In one of the largest Democratic fiefdoms in the country, the so-called ‘Proposition 50’ was being voted on, an initiative promoted by Newsom himself that consists of an electoral reform to change the proportions in the different electoral districts. Yes, a work of engineering and parliamentary arithmetic that forms a kind of revenge, response or reaction to what the Republicans started – under pressure from Trump himself – in Texas. And it plans to deploy in other traditionally Republican states such as Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio or Indiana.
We are talking about a redistribution, in a deeply populated state with a migrant population besieged by the racist hunts of ICE (the federal Immigration agency) that would result in taking away from the Republicans 5 of the 435 seats in the House of Representatives. This is the same proportion that the Democrats would lose in Texas, where the elections are already part of history.
The victory of ‘Proposition 50’ is not only a victory for the Democratic figure who is most clearly making a career and opposition against Trump in order to be the presidential candidate in 2028. Newsom’s victory is also within his own formation, anticipating a measure that is also being studied in Virginia, Colorado, Illinois and Maryland, as a shield against possible modifications in the same sense, but in red states. It was already anticipated that if the initiative managed to move forward, it would serve as a starting signal for the rest of the Democratic governors to act.
