On Election Day, Americans across the country made their choices at the ballot box, and decided who their leaders would be. But, what were the results?
In West Haven, incumbent mayor Dorinda Borer won re-election to a second full two-year term as mayor running unopposed. It was also a sweep for the Democratic Party in West Haven with them winning every election contested on the night.
Rob Dillman, a sophomore communications major and West Haven resident, said, “Honestly, I’m pretty happy, I think she’s done a good job up to now and keeping things the way they are, which is a good thing. I’ve met Dorinda, she’s a great person straight from West Haven, she’s done great things for UNH, I think change isn‘t really needed at the time.”
In New Haven, incumbent mayor Justin Elicker won re-election to a fourth two-year term, receiving 84.32% of the vote compared to Republican challenger Steve Orosco’s 15.64% of the vote. This makes Elicker the last mayor of New Haven to be elected to a two-year term with 2027’s elections being the first to be held under four-year terms.
Elicker declared victory on election night, where he said in his victory speech, “So this 85% vote, it’s looking like more people than have ever voted for our campaign than ever in the history of New Haven, is a clear signal that when New Haven is attacked what do we do? We fight back.”
Elicker also cited his victory due to his work towards reducing crime, building affordable housing, working to address environmental issues and fighting against President Donald Trump on various issues. Across Connecticut, 29 cities and towns also flipped towards the Democratic Party with some coming as big surprises. Cities and towns such as New Britain, Milford, Stratford, Bristol and Norwich, among others saw flips in mayorship.
On a national scale, the Democratic Party won most races. In New York City, after polling at only 1% at the start of the year, to a thrilling breakthrough nationwide, Zohran Mamdani was elected mayor of America’s largest city and became the first person of South Asian descent and the first Muslim to hold the position in city history.
Mamdani defeated both independent candidate and former New York governor Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa. Mamdani was projected to win with over 50% of the vote, Cuomo scored over 41% of the vote and Sliwa scored 7%. Over two million voters took to the polls in New York City, making it the highest turnout in a mayoral election in the city in over 50 years.
In Mamdani’s victory speech on election night he said, “New York, tonight you have delivered. A mandate for change. A mandate for a new kind of politics. A mandate for a city we can afford. And a mandate for a government that delivers exactly that.”
In New Jersey and Virginia, both Democratic candidates, Mikie Sherrill and Abigail Spanberger, won the two gubernatorial elections. They defeated Jack Ciatterelli and Winsome Earle-Sears, respectively. Once sworn in, Sherrill will become only the second female governor of New Jersey and Spanberger will become the first ever female to serve as governor of Virginia. There will be 14 female governors serving concurrently in the country, which would be the most in American history.
California voters also passed Proposition 50 by a wide margin as part of an effort that would allow the state to redraw its congressional districts in favor of Democrats as a response to states such as Texas, redrawing their maps to gerrymander in favor of additional Republican seats.
This election day was the first major electoral test for the second Trump administration and the majority of U.S. citizens voted in favor of the Democratic Party for major races throughout the country.
