On November 4th, states across the U.S held special elections, in which Democrats outperformed Republicans. One notable Democratic win was Mikie Sherrill’s victory for governor of New Jersey, with 56.6% of the votes. Her win is significant because this is the third term in a row in which Democrats have won, which hasn’t happened for either party since the 1960s. Sherril was also not expected to win by such a large margin. Moreover, Trump endorsed her Republican opponent, Ciattarelli, who received 42.8% of the votes. Trump’s endorsement may not have been effective due to his 38% approval rating, which decreased from 41% two weeks prior, according to the Pew Research Center. Sherrill is also new to politics, while Ciatterelli had run for governor before. Another unexpected win for Democrats was Abigail Spanberger, Virginia’s first female governor, who won the governorship in Virginia with 57.4% of the vote. Virginia tends to flip between Republican and Democratic leadership, and many believe Spanberger’s big win for Democrats may be a sign that Democrats could gain control of the House and Senate in next year’s midterm elections. When asked whether she thought the election would help or harm America, Junior AJ Jacoby said, “I think it will definitely help, because it will just, hopefully, continue to get better from here.” Despite the importance of these elections, the most widely anticipated result was the New York City mayoral race, in which Democratic Socialist running on the Democratic ticket, Zohran Mamdani won against Independent Andrew Cuomo with 50.4% of votes to Cuomo’s 41.6%. Freshman Ayalea Elhassani commented on Mamdani’s victory, “…he seems like a really good leader. He’s really confident with what he’s saying, like showing that he’s not scared about Trump.” All three Democrats, Spanberger, Sherrill, and Mamdani, ran on a promise to make their constituents’ lives more affordable, which many view as a referendum on Trump’s economy.