Punchbowl News: “If Republicans aren’t scared by what happened Tuesday night, they should be.”

“One year after President Donald Trump and Republicans won the White House, Congress and every battleground state, Democrats struck back by painting Virginia and New Jersey blue Tuesday night, shifting the map leftward in county after county…”

“This was a Democratic romp in the midst of a national crisis over the now record 36-day government shutdown. It should send a stark message to Trump, Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune that the national tide has shifted decisively from last year’s Republican victories.”

Gerald Baker: “On paper, he is the kind of Democrat that might have been invented in a laboratory of perverted social science by a MAGA Dr. Frankenstein: a socialist, an immigrant, a Muslim, son of a movie director and a professor of postcolonialism, holder of a degree in “Africana studies,” a 34-year-old whose experience runs the gamut from co-founder of the Bowdoin College chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine to membership of the New York state Assembly for the last five years, with stints as a rap producer and tenant organizer…”

“In case those credentials weren’t enough, he has enhanced his status as tribune of lost causes, saying at various times that he wanted to ‘defund the police,’ ‘globalize the intifada,’ open city-run grocery stores and reinvent an America in which there were no billionaires.”

New York Times: “The arc of his success is nothing short of staggering. At the start of the year, Mr. Mamdani was polling at 1 percent, tied, as he likes to say, with the candidate known as ‘someone else.’ Few New Yorkers recognized his name, and his own political team put the odds of winning as low as 3 percent.”

“Now, at age 34, he will be New York City’s youngest leader in more than a century, amid a pile of historic firsts: the first Muslim mayor, the first South Asian and arguably the most influential democratic socialist in the country.”

All across the country tonight, voters are weighing in on mayoral contests, ballot measures, and special elections — in total more than 20,000 races — that could hint at the national mood heading into 2026.

Which local results do you think will send the biggest political shockwaves?

Leave your reactions in the comments.

Rep. Mikie Sherrill won the New Jersey governor’s race, NBC News projects, defeating Republican Jack Ciattarelli after a hard-fought contest in which President Donald Trump loomed over voters’ choice.

Decision Desk HQ projects Zohran Mamdani to win the New York City Mayor election.

Pennsylvania voters approved the retention of three state Supreme Court justices, NBC News projects, preserving Democrats’ 5-2 majority on the battleground state’s high court.

In a city where change seems in the air, tonight’s mayoral outcome promises to recast City Hall’s priorities on affordability, public safety and housing.

Is New York ready to break from the past — or is this a reaffirmation of the status quo?

Polls close at 9 p.m. ET.

Decision Desk HQ projects Jay Jones (D) to win the Virginia Attorney General election.

With the Garden State’s governor’s race under the microscope, tonight’s results could reveal whether traditional partisan leanings hold or if a shift is under way.

How will every corner of New Jersey — from suburban towns to urban centers — respond?

Polls close at 8 p.m. ET.

Former Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA) was projected to defeat Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears (R) in Virginia’s gubernatorial election on Tuesday, according to Decision Desk HQ, becoming the first woman to serve as governor of the commonwealth.

As Virginia’s turnout comes in, voters are electing not just a governor but making a statement about national momentum and state-level change.

What does the outcome tonight signal about the direction of the Commonwealth — and how might it shape the 2026 midterms?

Polls close at 7 p.m. ET.