“Republicans have spent a year cheering President Donald Trump’s gains among Latino voters in November 2024. Now, Democrats’ big wins among Latino voters this week have some Republicans sounding the alarm,” NBC News reports.

“Democrats’ double-digit victories in governor’s races in New Jersey and Virginia, as well as wins in other elections in New York City and California, were driven in part by high levels of support among Latino voters.”

Playbook: “For all the initial noise about poor candidates, Republicans clearly understand the fundamental problem they face: that the oldest cliche in modern U.S. politics — it’s the economy, stupid — still holds true. Cost-of-living issues were the central reason Trump won in 2024, and the central reason Republicans lost badly this week.”

“Unsurprisingly, then, Republicans are now urging Trump to focus more on household issues over the coming months, and less on the global dealmaking (and war-making, and peacemaking) which have been a surprisingly central feature of his second term.”

David Graham: “Off-year elections are never quite the crystal ball for midterms that political junkies want, but one thing that last night’s results seem to convey clearly is that many voters are unhappy with President Donald Trump.”

“Elections for New York City mayor, governors of New Jersey and Virginia, and gerrymandering in California had their own local dynamics, but voters in these heavily nationalized contests were united in their rejection of Trump and his priorities. The results give some reason to doubt Trump’s claim that his 2024 victory was ‘a historic realignment’ of American politics.”

“Johnny DuPree, a Democrat who served as the mayor of Hattiesburg, Mississippi, for 16 years, has won a Republican-held Mississippi Senate seat, helping break the Republican Party’s supermajority for the first time in 13 years,” the Mississippi Free Press reports.

“Inside the White House, there are two main takeaways from last night’s miserable performance for the Republican Party,” Politico reports.

“The first one – that fielding quality candidates matters – is the one GOP officials are eagerly messaging.”

“But the second, perhaps more existential issue, is that President Donald Trump isn’t focused enough on the issues that matter most to the voters the party needs.”

“Minneapolis Democratic Mayor Jacob Frey defeated democratic socialist Omar Fateh and 13 other challengers Wednesday during the final round of counting in the city’s ranked-choice voting election,” the AP reports.

“Frey, who secured a third term, led Fateh by about 10 percentage points after Tuesday night’s first round of counting but didn’t cross the 50%-plus-one-vote threshold he needed to win outright.”

Zohran Mamdani told NY1 he didn’t get a congratulatory call from either Andrew Cuomo or Eric Adams last night.

He did get a congratulatory call from Curtis Sliwa.

“If anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him, it is the city that gave rise to him. So Donald Trump, since I know you’re watching, I have four words for you: Turn the volume up.”

— New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani (D), in his victory speech.

“The midterms start tonight and the warning signs are flashing.”

— Steve Bannon, on his podcast.

“More than a few Republicans are celebrating Zohran Mamdani’s victory, seeing the 34-year-old democratic socialist as a political gift and an albatross for the Democratic Party. Steve Bannon is not among them,” Politico reports.

“The former White House chief strategist has long preached the idea that populism is the engine of modern politics. And he sees Mamdani’s election as mayor of New York City as proof of its staying power — and a sign of the growing anti-establishment force on the left that Republicans would be foolish to ignore.”

Said Bannon: “Tonight should be a wake up call to the populist nationalist movement under President Trump. These are very serious people, and they need to be addressed seriously.”

Playbook: “These were the first major elections since Donald Trump returned to the White House, and there’s no other way of spinning the voters’ response: Democrats out-performed expectations in every significant race across America…”

“The margins of victory were immense. Spanberger won by more than 15 percentage points — far outpacing any recent Democratic win in Virginia, including Ralph Northam’s blowout 2017 victory at the equivalent point of Trump’s first term. In a New Jersey gubernatorial contest billed as a close-run, Sherrill’s double-digit win almost matched her former roommate’s in Virginia. Sherrill flipped at least five Trump-supporting counties back to the Democrats last night.”

“President Donald Trump railed against the results of several elections before they were officially called for the Democrats on Tuesday, previewing a slew of losses for the president’s party in the first major elections since he started his second term,” the Washington Post reports.

“In social media posts Tuesday, Trump claimed without evidence that there was widespread fraud surrounding California’s Proposition 50 ballot measure, a Democratic-led effort to change the state’s congressional map in response to Republican-led redistricting in Texas. He also insulted Jewish voters who supported Zohran Mamdani in New York City, and alleged that energy costs and crime would spike if Democratic gubernatorial candidates won in New Jersey and Virginia…”

“The four elections that Trump targeted on social media broke handily for the Democrats, the first major political blow to the president since he reclaimed the Oval Office last year.”

Washington Post: “One encouraging sign for Democrats: They appeared to fare far better with voters of color than they did in last year’s presidential election, when Trump won close to half of Latino voters and roughly doubled his support among Black voters to 15 percent.”