New Jersey Democratic gubernatorial candidate Rep. Mikie Sherrill celebrates with lieutenant gubernatorial candidate Dale Caldwell after their win during an election night watch party in East Brunswick, New Jersey, on Tuesday. Photo: Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/Getty Images

Abigail Spanberger, a former Democratic congresswoman and CIA officer, has been elected Virginia’s next governor and will become the state’s first female chief executive. Photo: Getty Images

In Virginia, moderate former Rep. Abigail Spanberger turned in the strongest Democratic performance in the state’s recent history as she coasted to victory. And in New Jersey, another moderate, Rep. Mikie Sherrill, busted apart the coalition Trump and her Republican rival, former state lawmaker Jack Ciattarelli, had put together to close the Garden State’s gap in recent elections.

In New York City, democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani’s win marked the second time this year he’d defeated former Gov. Andrew Cuomo — first in the Democratic primary, and then in the general election, with Cuomo running as an independent backed by Trump.

The Democratic wins by candidates with sharp ideological differences will do little to settle the party’s long-raging internal debate about its way forward, with a host of competitive midterm primaries just months away and the 2028 presidential primary already looming.

But their campaigns had some things in common. Though their solutions were different, the candidates focused on the issue of affordability. And they were all fiercely critical of Trump’s performance.

“It’s not just a message about Democrats; it’s a message about our entire country. I think Americans are appalled by what they are seeing coming out of this administration,” New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said on CNN from Mamdani’s victory party.

In California, voters approved by a wide margin a redistricting ballot measure intended to boost Democrats’ chances in next year’s battle for control of the House. And in Pennsylvania, Democratic state Supreme Court justices won their retention votes, allowing Democrats to keep their majority on the high court in a perennial battleground state where legal challenges over voting rules are all but certain.