Democrats win big, Trump blames government shutdown and his absence from ballots

Democrats have swept the first major poll of Trump's second term, with major victories in New York, New Jersey and the swing state of Virginia. The polls were seen as a litmus test ahead of the 2026 midterms and amid the government shutdown. As voters delivered an early warning, Trump quickly distanced himself from the GOP losses in a Truth Social post, citing an unknown pollster. Trump said that his absence from the ballot and the government shutdown were the two key reasons for the Republican defeat. White House was also quick to remind that Trump is still the President of the United States.

Early warning for Trump

Even though Trump tried to distance himself from the poor performance of the Republicans in the ballot, he did endorse every candidate who lost. Altogether, Trump endorsed 53 candidates. “Whether you personally like Andrew Cuomo or not, you really have no choice,” Trump posted, urging people to keep Mamdani out. Similarly, Trump urged voters to vote for Republicans but did not clearly endorse the Virginia Republican candidate, Winsome Earle-Sears. He did endorse Jack Ciattarelli, who was the Republican candidate for New Jersey.

Democrats win big

Zohran Mamdani became the first Muslim and South Asian Mayor of New York City, Abigail Spanberger became the first female governor of Virginia, and Mikie Sherrill won New Jersey to become New Jersey's first Democrat Governor. Eventhough New York has been deep blue in every Presidential election since 1988, Mamdani was up against one of his own, the former Democrat party governor Andrew Cuomo. Similarly, New Jersey had been a Democratic stronghold since the 1992 Presidential election. Virginia is a swing state; it had been voting red until the 2008 presidential election, but since then, it has shifted to blue. However, the state and other legislative elections can be competitive. California is also voting on redistricting in response to Trump's Proposition 50 in Texas. Since the poll, the Democrats are hoping for a turnaround in their fortunes in the midterms. It shows some semblance of connection between the Democrats and the non-traditional voter base since last year's election, when Trump swept across all the swing states and made inroads into Democratic territory. Specifically, the victory of the Democratic Socialist, Muslim candidate Zohran Mamdani shows that the GOP is losing the identity politics, and Mamdani stood for everything that Trump and the GOP oppose. Rather, Mamdani ran on the cross-community issues and economic troubles of the commoners, which resonated more with New Yorkers.

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