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Nov. 4, 2025, 9:32 PM EST / Updated Nov. 4, 2025, 10:49 PM ESTBy Allan SmithZohran Mamdani has won New York’s mayoral race, NBC News projects, after the 34-year-old democratic socialist energized progressives in the city and across the country while generating intense backlash from President Donald Trump and Republicans, as well as some Democratic moderates.Mamdani, the Democratic nominee, on Tuesday handily defeated former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo — who ran as a third-party candidate after having lost the Democratic primary — and Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa. Mayor Eric Adams, who mounted a third-party campaign for re-election after he won as a Democrat in 2021, dropped out of the race in September and endorsed Cuomo last month.Follow the election live hereThe victory caps a meteoric rise through New York politics for Mamdani since he launched his campaign roughly one year ago, transforming him from a virtually unknown state assemblyman who barely registered in polling to the incoming leader of America’s largest city. Along the way, he pushed aside the heir to one of New York’s most iconic political dynasties not once but twice within five months.Now a nationally known political figure, Mamdani will attempt to enact the sweeping policy platform that inspired his supporters while managing an enormous municipal bureaucracy — and influencing national politics, as one of the most prominent democratic socialists and Democrats in the country. Among other goals, Mamdani wants to freeze rent on rent-stabilized units, enact universal child care, create a free bus program and launch city-run grocery stores.“It is tempting to believe that this moment was always destined,” Mamdani said before thousands at a rally in Queens late last month, before he noted that when he started his campaign, “there was not a single television camera there to cover it.”“Four months later and as recently as this February, our support had reached eye-watering heights of 1%,” Mamdani continued. “We were tied with noted candidate ‘someone else.’”Mamdani’s victory is sure to reverberate not just throughout New York City but around the nation.In New York, Mamdani’s next challenge will be the tall task of uniting leaders in Albany and on the City Council — many of whom were not eager to line up behind him — to advance his ambitious agenda.Nationally, many Democrats will examine his rise from obscurity, his successful messaging on social media and his focus on affordability for clues about how to navigate their own races.Meanwhile, Republicans are eager to turn Mamdani’s left-wing platform into a wedge issue in competitive races far beyond New York City’s borders.Zohran Mamdani speaking at his campaign office on Oct. 30, 2025 in New York.Laurel Golio for NBC NewsNBC News exit polling found that Mamdani won across racial demographics — with white, Black, Latino, Asian and voters of other races all backing his candidacy over Cuomo’s and Sliwa’s.Younger voters overwhelmingly backed Mamdani, with NBC News exit polling showing that voters under 45 years old favored him over Cuomo by 43 points. Voters over 45, meanwhile, backed Cuomo by a 10-point margin.Education played a big role, too, the exit polling showed. And one of the biggest divides in the election was between New Yorkers who were born in the city and those who had moved to New York within the last 10 years.Meanwhile, with Mamdani’s pro-Palestinian activism having become a key issue in the race, NBC News exit polling found that Jewish voters favored Cuomo over Mamdani by 29 points, 60% to 31%.Speaking to supporters after his defeat on Tuesday, Cuomo thanked Adams, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and former New York Gov. David Paterson for their support. He called voters at his election eve party “New York patriots.”“This campaign was the right fight to wage,” Cuomo said. “And I am proud of what we did and what we did together. This campaign was to contest the philosophies that are shaping the Democratic Party, the future of this city and the future of this country. And this coalition transcended normal partisan politics.”The closing weeks of the race turned into a brawl between Mamdani and Cuomo, the onetime front-runner who spent the general election trying to play catch-up. The two had heated debates in recent weeks, with Cuomo calling Mamdani a “divisive force in New York” while Mamdani painted Cuomo as Trump’s “puppet.”Trump made a late jump into the race Monday night, endorsing Cuomo on social media and saying a vote for Sliwa, the Republican nominee, was essentially a vote for Mamdani in the split general election field.Interestingly, exit polling showed self-identified Republicans favored Cuomo over Sliwa, with 61% of Republicans him while just 35% backed Sliwa.Late last month, Mamdani delivered an emotional address condemning what he slammed as “racist, baseless” attacks he has faced for his Muslim faith. He will be the first Muslim mayor in New York City history. His unapologetically pro-Palestinian stance energized progressives who oppose Israel’s war in Gaza, as pro-Israel Democrats and donors grew anxious about his rise.At a rally alongside Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., days later, Mamdani said Cuomo, Adams and Sliwa possess only “the playbook of the past.”“They have sought to make this election a referendum not on the affordability crisis that consumes New Yorkers’ lives,” he said, “but on the faith I belong to and the hatred they seem to normalize.”Allan SmithAllan Smith is a political reporter for NBC News.

- Latest News - November 5, 2025

Zohran Mamdani has won New York’s mayoral race, NBC News projects, after the 34-year-old democratic socialist energized progressives in the city and across the country while generating intense backlash from.

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Nov. 4, 2025, 9:38 PM EST / Updated Nov. 4, 2025, 10:24 PM ESTBy Megan LebowitzDemocrat Jay Jones has won the election for Virginia attorney general, NBC News projects, overcoming a text message scandal that threatened to derail his candidacy in the final stretch of the race.Jones defeated Republican Jason Miyares, the incumbent who served one term. The typically low-profile race was thrust into the national spotlight after a series of violent text messages Jones sent in 2022 surfaced last month. In those texts, Jones suggested that then-Virginia House Speaker Todd Gilbert, a Republican, deserved “bullets to the head.” In the message, Jones wrote: “Three people, two bullets. Gilbert, hitler, and pol pot.”“Gilbert gets two bullets to the head,” Jones said, according to the messages released by the Republican Attorneys General Association. “Spoiler: put Gilbert in the crew with the two worst people you know and he receives both bullets every time.”The messages, which were first reported by the National Review, prompted bipartisan backlash. Jones, a former state lawmaker, was not in office when he made the remarks, and he apologized to Gilbert and his family, saying in a statement, “Reading back those words made me sick to my stomach.”“I am embarrassed, ashamed, and sorry,” he continued.The messages came amid a national conversation about political violence and rhetoric after the assassinations of conservative activist Charlie Kirk and Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman, a Democrat.Republicans urged Jones to drop out of the race, while Democrats largely condemned the texts while stopping short of calling on him to end his campaign.The NBC News Exit Poll showed the text messages were on the minds of Virginia voters. Forty-five percent said they disqualified Jones for the job of attorney general. Miyares said in his concession speech that he wishes Jay Jones “the best in this new job.” “I know, given the circumstances of last six weeks, many of my supporters will find that difficult,” he said. “The reason I wish Jay the best is because we, the people of Virginia, need it. We need an attorney general who will focus every day on keeping us safe.”Jones said in his victory speech that he looked forward to sitting down with Miyares. He also thanked the outgoing attorney general “for his service to our commonwealth.”The texts also became a focal point of the governor’s race, with Republican candidate Winsome Earle-Sears pressing Democratic candidate Abigail Spanberger to further reject Jones. Spanberger had said that when she learned about the messages, she “spoke frankly with Jay about my disgust with what he had said and texted” and “made clear to Jay that he must fully take responsibility for his words.” Spanberger did not call for Jones to exit the race and declined to say whether she had withdrawn her endorsement of him, saying at a debate that “it’s up to voters to make a choice based on this information.”Spanberger’s comfortable victory over Earle-Sears in the governor’s race Tuesday appears to have helped drag Jones across the finish line. With an estimated 87% of the vote in, Spanberger led by more than 13 points, while Jones led by less than 5. The NBC News Exit Poll found that 9% of Spanberger voters backed Miyares.Jones, 36, hammered a message in the blue-leaning state that Miyares would not stand up to President Donald Trump. Trump endorsed Miyares, but not Earle-Sears, in Virginia. “I was held accountable,” Jones said at a debate last month. “But what we have here in Virginia right now is an attorney general who won’t hold the president accountable.”Of the 49% of Virginia voters who strongly disapproved of the way Trump is handling his job as president, 91% voted for Jones, exit polls show. In the hours before polls opened for Election Day, Trump urged Virginians during a tele-rally to back Miyares while notably not naming Earle-Sears. “Get out and vote tomorrow for Jason Miyares, very — so important — and the Republicans up and down the ballot,” Trump said Monday night.Miyares, 49, began his first term in 2022, having served in the Legislature. Jones previously was an assistant attorney general in D.C. and was a Virginia state representative.Megan LebowitzMegan Lebowitz is a politics reporter for NBC News.

- Latest News - November 5, 2025

Democrat Jay Jones has won the election for Virginia attorney general, NBC News projects, overcoming a text message scandal that threatened to derail his candidacy in the final stretch of.

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Nov. 4, 2025, 9:00 PM EST / Updated Nov. 4, 2025, 10:05 PM ESTBy Alexandra MarquezMaine will soon become the 22nd state to have an “extreme risk protection” gun law, also known as a “red flag law,” NBC News projects — part of a slew of state ballot measures voters around the country considered on Tuesday.Maine voters on Tuesday passed a ballot question that will allow individuals to petition courts to have firearms taken away from their family members if they are deemed to pose a risk to themselves or others.The ballot measure was opposed by a bipartisan group of state leaders, including Democratic Gov. Janet Mills and top Republicans in the state Legislature. They pointed to a law already in effect in Maine, known as a “yellow flag law,” that allows members of law enforcement to petition courts to temporarily confiscate an individual’s firearms if they’re deemed to be a danger to themselves or others.The yellow flag law already in effect also requires law enforcement officers to bring individuals into protective custody and obtain a behavioral health assessment before they can petition for the confiscation of firearms.This new red flag law eliminates the need for a behavioral health assessment and allows family members to petition for firearm confiscation without consulting law enforcement officers.Proponents of the ballot measure, including the leaders behind the state’s “Safe Schools, Safe Communities” initiative, have said that their proposal ensures that due process is protected because anyone seeking an extreme risk protection order must present sworn evidence in court and cannot make up evidence.Opponents of the ballot measure, including Mills, have said that the court process could be burdensome for family members and could infringe on due process protections.“If there is a potentially dangerous situation, I want the police involved as soon as possible because it’s their responsibility, not yours, to deal with dangerous people,” Mills told voters in September.She also pointed to the number of successful court petitions — over 1,000 — that have given the go-ahead to confiscate firearms from individuals since the yellow flag law passed.“Look, if I thought Question 2 were good public policy, I’d be the first to support it — but Maine’s current gun safety law is one of the most effective laws of its kind in the nation, carefully drafted to be constitutional. It has resulted in more than 1,100 court orders to remove weapons, far more compared to most other states that have so-called red flag laws,” Mills said. “Our Maine law is successfully saving lives every day, and that’s why I ask people to reject Question 2 at the ballot box.”Four other New England states already have such laws: Vermont, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Connecticut.Maine Question 1In a separate measure, voters in Maine rejected a ballot question that would have imposed sweeping changes to Maine’s election laws, NBC News projects, including instituting new voter ID laws and modifying existing laws governing absentee voting.Democratic leaders including Mills spoke out in recent weeks against the ballot measure, saying it would have made it harder for Maine citizens to vote.In a post on X earlier Tuesday, Mills posted photos of her voting and wrote, “If you’re an older Mainer or a single parent, someone with a disability, or someone with a busy schedule, Question 1 would only make it harder for you to cast your vote. That’s why I voted no on Question 1 today!”Mills’ opponent in next year’s Democratic Senate primary, veteran Graham Platner, also opposed Question 1 in the weeks leading up to Election Day.After the ballot measure was projected to be defeated on Tuesday night, he wrote in a post on X, “This victory belongs to the thousands of volunteers, many of them with our campaign, who left it all on the field to save absentee voting in Maine.” Beyond the voter ID requirement, the ballot question, if passed, would have made changes to absentee voting laws, including the repeal of a measure that allowed voters to drop off ballots for their immediate family members. The new provision would have also put an end to automatic absentee voting, which allows some voters to have absentee ballots mailed to them automatically each election cycle.Another major change that was included would have allowed municipalities just one absentee ballot drop box for future elections, instead of multiple drop boxes. Opponents of the ballot measure specifically pointed to this provision, saying it would have made it harder for Maine citizens living in rural areas to vote via absentee ballot.“Our elections are already safe, secure, and trustworthy. Let’s not make it harder for Maine people to exercise that important freedom,” Mills told her constituents in October when she called for them to reject the ballot question.Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, who is facing a tough re-election fight next year, did not weigh in on the measure, telling voters at an event in Portland last month that she needed to “look at the specifics” of the measure and how it might impact elderly voters.Texas ballot questionsTexas voters approved two state constitutional amendments in statewide votes, NBC News projects. The ballot measures amend Texas’ constitution to clarify that only U.S. citizens can vote in the state and to enshrine parental rights.Follow the election live hereProponents of the ballot measure say that parental rights are already guaranteed in Texas because of existing case law, but a constitutional amendment will ensure parental rights are observed even if case law changes in the future.“Over the last 100 years, federal case law has outlined specific areas in which parents have a constitutionally protected right to make decisions for their children. However, rights found in case law can change and disappear over time with the appointment of new judges. Placing the rights of parents in the Texas constitution would ensure the longevity of these rights for future generations,” GOP state Sen. Bryan Hughes, a sponsor of the measure, wrote as part of a bill analysis.The measure approved on Tuesday will add language to the state constitution that says, “the people of Texas hereby affirm that a parent has the responsibility to nurture and protect the parent’s child and the corresponding fundamental right to exercise care, custody, and control of the parent’s child, including the right to make decisions concerning the child’s upbringing.”Opponents of the ballot measure, including education and reproductive rights groups, have called the measure “unnecessary,” and “dangerous.” They say the constitutional language could later be used to justify restrictions on information children can access regarding mental health care and reproductive health care. Other opponents called the measure “vague.”On the voting measure, even before its passage, only U.S. citizens could vote in the state of Texas, leading opponents of the measure to call it “redundant,” while proponents of the measure said it will ensure local municipalities cannot allow non-citizens to vote in local elections in the future.The measure’s sponsor in the Texas legislature, GOP state Sen. Brian Birdwell, pointed to other states, like California, Maryland, New York, and Vermont, where non-citizen residents are authorized to vote in some local elections, like school board or city council elections.“The right to vote is sacred, guaranteed by the United States Constitution. With other states allowing their local governments to implement a voting mechanism to allow non-citizens to vote, Texas should proactively amend the constitution to ensure that Texas municipalities cannot implement such policies should statute change,” Birdwell wrote as part of a bill analysis in the state Senate. “In efforts to preserve the integrity of all elections, maintaining that only citizens have the right to vote will create additional safeguards to keep our Texas elections secure,” he added.The measure won support from GOP Gov. Greg Abbott, who told voters in a post on X earlier this year that the ballot measure, “makes it crystal clear that if you are not a United States citizen, you’re not allowed to vote in Texas.”Alexandra MarquezAlexandra Marquez is a politics reporter for NBC News.

- Latest News - November 5, 2025

Maine will soon become the 22nd state to have an “extreme risk protection” gun law, also known as a “red flag law,” NBC News projects — part of a slew.

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