Elections in states such as New Jersey, Virginia and California will be the first major opportunity to gauge voter sentiment since President Trump’s victory in 2024.
Will California support redistricting under Proposition 50?
Proposition 50 has sparked debate over California’s redistricting. It will play a key role in determining which party controls the U.S. House of Representatives.
Voters in Virginia and New Jersey will each elect a new governor, and Californians will decide on Election Day whether to pursue major redistricting. Every election could indicate how voters feel about President Donald Trump and their mood heading into the 2026 midterm elections.
Democratic U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger is trying to win control of the Virginia Governor’s Mansion from Republicans in a race against Republican Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earl Sears. Republican Jack Ciatarelli is running for New Jersey governor for the third time, losing in 2021 by just 3 percentage points. The former state lawmaker will face Democratic Rep. Mikie Sherrill.
Meanwhile, California voted in favor of Democratic-backed Proposition 50, a ballot measure that would allow state leaders to temporarily bypass an independent redistricting commission and draw new House maps. After gaining Republican-leaning seats in Texas, Democrats are hoping to add seats that favor their party in California.
These races are among the few statewide contests that offer the first major opportunity to gauge voter sentiment nearly a year into President Trump’s aggressive second term. The president looms large over the election, featured in ads and debates.
Democrats are hoping for signs of a stronger backlash against President Trump, while Republicans are working to slow the typical momentum that drives their party out of power.
The election is a precursor to next year’s more consequential midterm elections, which will determine control of Congress and, with it, the fate of Mr. Trump’s legislative agenda.
Voting closes at 7pm ET in Virginia and 8pm ET in New Jersey. California polls close at 8pm Pacific time.
You can find Virginia election results here, New Jersey results here, and California election results here.
Democratic gubernatorial candidates in New Jersey and Virginia have made opposition to Donald Trump a central focus of their arguments. In California, an ad urges voters to “stick with Trump,” while New York City’s leading mayoral candidate says he will stand up to the president if he wins.
Trump’s name will not be on the 2025 ballot. He is a lame duck, with political retirement looming in three years. But the off-year race, which culminates Tuesday, still puts the spotlight on the 79-year-old Republican.
While Mr. Trump has largely stayed away from the campaign trail, spending much of the final week before Election Day traveling to Asia, he has shown little bleakness about politics. He has frequently targeted New York mayoral candidate Zoran Mamdani as Republicans seek to make Democrats look far left.
Ciattarelli told the USA TODAY Network that he speaks with Trump every few weeks, and Trump reiterated his support in a recent social media post, reminding Garden State voters, “He will never let you down!”
Both were members of the 2018 freshman class that helped Democrats retake the House. Both men describe themselves as moderates with extensive military and national security experience.
And the two friends, who emailed each other regularly and were roommates on Capitol Hill, were even born in each other’s states.
Some observers see Spanberger and Sherrill, now moderate gubernatorial candidates, as a model for Democrats to have broader electoral appeal, in contrast to Zoran Mamdani, the socialist candidate for New York mayor who is a target of President Donald Trump.
– Philip M. Bailey, Katie Sobko
Law enforcement is investigating email threats at polling places in Bergen, Essex, Mercer, Middlesex, Monmo-Ocean and Passaic counties, USA TODAY NETWORK reported in a statement from New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin.
Some polling stations have since reopened. At polling places that remained closed, voters were sent to other polling places to receive provisional ballots.
“Voters should remain confident that they can vote without fear of intimidation, and we will continue to work tirelessly to ensure free, fair, and secure elections,” Platkin wrote. “We will not tolerate any attempt to interfere with our elections and will promptly hold accountable those who attempt to undermine the safety and security of our election process.”
As Virginia voters headed to the polls Tuesday morning, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Abigail Spanberger posted a message of condolence over the death of former Republican Vice President Dick Cheney.
Cheney, who served as second in command under President George W. Bush, distanced herself from Republican leadership after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol by supporters of President Donald Trump. Cheney endorsed then-Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election.
“Today I mourn the passing of Vice President Dick Cheney and my prayers go out to his wife Lynne Cheney, daughters Liz and Mary, and their families,” Spanberger wrote on X.
New Jersey’s gubernatorial race could be a close one, with polls released on October 30 showing Democratic U.S. Rep. Mikie Sherrill leading Republican Jack Ciatarelli by four points with less than a week to go until Election Day.
A statewide poll by Suffolk University found Mr. Sherrill’s approval rating among likely voters was 46%, compared with 42% for Mr. Ciatarelli, a former state representative, but the difference remains within the poll’s margin of error. A further 7% of respondents said they were undecided and 3% declined to answer. The other two candidates on the ballot received 1% support.
Another poll released on Nov. 1 showed Mr. Sherrill with a slight lead over Mr. Ciatarelli.
In an Atlas Intel poll of more than 1,600 likely voters in New Jersey from October 25 to October 30, Mr. Sherrill received 50.2% of the vote and Mr. Ciatarelli received 49.3%, with a margin of error of 2 percentage points.
A poll released on October 23 showed that Democrat Abigail Spanberger has a 9-point lead over her Republican challenger, Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earl Sears, in the Virginia gubernatorial race, which is considered a precursor to the national election.
In a Suffolk University poll of likely voters released Oct. 23, Spanberger received 52% of the votes, followed by Earl Sears with 43%. A further 3% said they were “undecided”.
