Historic results of 2025 General Elections
This year’s general elections made history and set records in several states across the nation with sweeping wins for Democrats
Photo courtesy of InformedImages/Wikimedia Commons
This year’s general election on Nov. 4 brought high voter turnouts and historic results across the country. The state of Virginia made history, electing the state’s first female governor, Abigail Spanberger, as well as electing “Ghazala Hashmi [to] the Virginia lieutenant governor’s race, [as] the nation’s first Muslim woman elected to statewide office,” according to CNN. Detroit also elected their first female governor, Mary Sheffield. Albany joined in on the historic election day by electing Dorcey Applyrs as the city’s first black mayor.
New York City also made history by electing Zohran Mamdani; he will be the “first Muslim and person of South Asian descent– as well as the youngest in over a century– to hold the position [of mayor],” as stated by NPR. New York City’s mayoral election this year gained a great deal of attention from voters and the media in the city and beyond. Former mayor of Burlington, Vermont and current United States senator, Bernie Sanders, said that Zohran Mamdani “pulled off one of the great political upsets in modern American history.” Besides being the city’s first Muslim mayor and running an impressive campaign—beating former governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo—Zohan Mamdani also inspired “the largest voter turnout in the city in more than half a century,” The Guardian reports.
Mamdani started his campaign relatively new to politics, having only served as an assemblyman in the New York State legislature. As detailed by The Guardian, Mamdani based his campaign on the issue of stabilizing New York rent. He connected strongly with young voters, largely through social media, with comedic and eye-catching videos. He especially attracted left-leaning voters who felt disillusioned in the weeks after President Trump’s re-election. He went door-to-door across the city, connecting with citizens, getting to know them, and raising donations for his campaign.
Mamdani acknowledged his challenges in his victory speech, saying, “I am young, despite my best efforts to grow older. I am Muslim. I am a democratic socialist. And most damning of all, I refuse to apologize for any of this.” Now, the mayor-elect is continuing to make headlines leading up to his term. To help him transition into this role and carry out his plans, Mamdani has named “an all-female team of co-chairs for his transition team,” according to CNN.
While Zohran Mamdani made headlines and broke records throughout this election, other history-making electees overcame notable feats as well. Democrat Abigail Spanberger was elected governor of Virginia over current Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin. As further detailed by CNN, this boosted the Democratic Party’s morale as they begin preparing for the 2028 presidential campaign. In addition to Spanberger, Democratic candidates were elected in all three of the state-level positions for which they campaigned in Virginia. This is an even bigger win for the Democratic Party as Virginia has been a swing state between the 2020, 2024, and 2025 elections, as reported by Yahoo News.
Another win for Democrats and another record-breaking voter turnout took place in New Jersey. The New Jersey Monitor states “Nearly 3.6 million New Jerseyans voted in this year’s gubernatorial and legislative races, a level of turnout not seen in any non-presidential race this millennium.” These voters elected Democrat Mikie Sherrill for governor, beating the Republican candidate Jack Ciattarelli.
Detroit kept this streak going for Democrats, electing Mary Sheffield as its first female mayor, although this was not Sheffield’s first time making history. CBS News reports, “In November 2013, Sheffield was the youngest person ever elected to the Detroit City Council at 26 years old, representing the city's fifth district. She was then the youngest person to serve as Detroit's City Council President, winning that role in 2022.” Sheffield told CBS, “It’s not really about gender. It’s about the ability to lead in such a time as this.”
New York’s capital city also made history, electing Dorcey Applyrs, Albany’s first Black mayor. She has announced that as mayor, she will focus on the city’s youth and the next generations of leaders making history. According to Spectrum Local News, Applyrs has already made plans to protect Albany’s young citizens from city violence, promote city safety, and to create more inclusive housing. Making history is not new to Applyrs either; before being elected Albany’s first Black mayor, she was “the first Black mayoral nominee in the city’s history” according to the Times Union.