Headline Roundup • November 4th, 2025
Election Day 2025 Preview: Key Races in NJ, CA, PA, VA, NYC
Elections,Pennsylvania,New Jersey,Virginia,New York,New York City,California,Philadelphia,Politics,Democratic Party,Republican Party,Independent Party
Summary from the AllSides News Team
Tuesday is Election Day in America, and several major races have received national media attention across the spectrum.
New Jersey: Voters in New Jersey will elect a new governor to replace current Governor Phil Murphy (D). Recent polls showed Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D) holding a one- to four-point lead over politician and businessman Jack Ciattarelli (R). Ciattarelli ran for governor in 2021 and lost to Murphy by about three points. In the 2024 presidential election, President Donald Trump (R) delivered an unexpectedly strong result in the state, losing to former Vice President Kamala Harris (D) by less than six points.
California: Proposition 50, a ballot measure backed by Governor Gavin Newsom (D) that would temporarily override the state’s independent redistricting committee to establish new congressional district maps, is expected to pass.
Pennsylvania: Voters will decide whether to renew the terms of three liberal Pennsylvania Supreme Court justices, Judges David Wecht, Christine Donohue, and Kevin Dougherty. During their ten-year term, the justices notably ruled in favor of extending COVID-19 lockdowns and expanding mail-in voting before the 2020 presidential election. In Philadelphia, incumbent District Attorney Larry Krasner (D) is running against former Municipal Judge Pat Dugan (R). Krasner defeated Dugan earlier this year in the Democratic primary. However, Dugan, who has received the support of Andrew Yang’s Forward Party in the general election, has remained on the ballot due to being written in by Republican voters.
Virginia: For governor, recent polls showed former Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D) holding a roughly ten-point lead over Lt. Governor Winsome Earle-Sears (R). The state's Attorney General contest between incumbent Jason Miyares (R) and politician Jay Jones (D) appears to be much closer, with recent polls showing mixed results.
New York City: One of the most covered elections in mainstream media this year has been New York City’s mayoral race. Polls show socialist candidate Zohran Mamdani (D) holding a significant lead over former Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo (I), who he defeated in the primary, and Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa (R). Sliwa, who many have pressured to drop out of the race due to his trailing of Cuomo, has previously run unsuccessfully for mayor. On Monday, President Trump endorsed Cuomo. In Manhattan, District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D) is up for reelection against former Democrat and public defender Maud Maron (R) and former prosecutor Diana Florence (I).
How The Media Covered It: Several mainstream outlets ran individual and composite features featuring rundowns on the above races. The New York Times (Lean Left bias) and Fox News (Right) both framed Election Day as taking place in the wake of Trump’s 2024 presidential victory.
Written by the AllSides staff (of humans). Learn more. Support our mission.
Featured Coverage of this Story
Adam Gray/Bloomberg/Getty Images
Zohran Mamdani walked across the Brooklyn Bridge to New York’s City Hall early Monday morning holding a banner that seemed to answer the president who has opposed him and the portions of the Democratic Party that have been slow to embrace him. “Our time is now,” it said.
Mamdani faces former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who is attempting a political comeback as an independent after losing the Democratic primary, and Republican Curtis Sliwa in the mayoral race — one of a handful of contests around the country Tuesday that will draw...
Polling is giving observers a clearer picture of what to expect on Election Day as voters cast their ballots.
Key elections in Virginia, New Jersey, New York City and California could hold big implications for what to expect in next year’s midterms.
Here’s what the polling tells us about Tuesday’s major races:
Nearly ten months into President Donald Trump's second term in the White House, voters in contests from coast-to-coast head to the polls on Tuesday in statewide and local elections.
And the key showdowns, including gubernatorial elections in New Jersey and Virginia, are viewed, in part, as the first major ballot box test of Trump's unprecedented and explosive second-term agenda.
