Democratic leaders suggested that a string of election-night victories was evidence of a political resurgence headed into the 2026 midterms, pointing to wins in New York City, Virginia, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Maine, and California.

“American voters just delivered a Democratic resurgence. A Republican reckoning. A Blue Sweep,” Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chair Ken Martin said in a statement celebrating results across multiple states. “We will earn every vote. We will win.”

The DNC highlighted victories such as Zohran Mamdani’s win for New York City mayor, gubernatorial wins by Abigail Spanberger in Virginia and Mikie Sherrill in New Jersey, the retention of three Pennsylvania Supreme Court justices, two statewide Public Service Commission seats in Georgia, the defeat of Maine’s Question 1 on absentee voting, and the passage of California’s redistricting Proposition 50.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom echoed that message in remarks to the press from the California Democratic Party headquarters.

“It’s been a good evening,” he said, calling it “a victory for the United States of America.”

Newsom added that he believed Prop 50 was a response to attempts by President Donald Trump and the GOP “to rig the midterm elections” following the spate of redistricting efforts nationally, which kicked off in Texas this summer.

In Virginia, Democrats secured a governing trifecta after Spanberger’s win, along with the lieutenant governor and attorney general offices, and a net gain of 13 seats in the House of Delegates.

“Voters chose progress over extremism and soundly rejected Donald Trump’s toxic agenda,” Martin said in a separate release regarding Virginia, asserting that Democrats are “entering 2026 with strong momentum.”

In New York City, Mamdani cast his victory as a mandate for affordability and a broader shift in political power.

“My friends, we have toppled a political dynasty,” he told supporters, referring to his opponent, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. “A mandate for change. A mandate for a new kind of politics. A mandate for a city we can afford.”

He promised rent freezes for rent-stabilized tenants, “fast and free” buses, and “universal child care” across the city, among other things.

The wins come as the GOP controls the White House, the House of Representatives, and the Senate after Democrats lost ground in Congress in 2024 and former Vice President Kamala Harris lost to Trump.

Party leaders have been optimistic for months that this week’s races would be a sign of momentum heading into the 2026 midterm elections.

Republicans and some analysts downplayed the broader meaning of the night.

“It won’t be a big surprise if the front-runners, the Democrats, the radicals, win some of these elections,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said earlier in the day.

“It’s all basically blue states,” Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) said.

Political scientist Aaron Dusso said: “In Virginia and in New Jersey, the Democrats win when they’re expected to win. This is not surprising.”

He also said that off-year results are driven largely by views of the sitting president and that Trump’s approval rating has been in the mid-40s for several weeks.

Democrats pointed to turnout and down-ballot results as signs that their affordability pitch resonated. In Georgia, the party won two non-federal statewide offices for the first time in nearly 20 years, and the DNC said the candidates ran on lowering utility costs.

In Maine, Martin called the defeat of Question 1 “a major win for all Mainers,” arguing that it protected absentee voting access.

Martin said the results show a party unified around “kitchen table” issues even as candidates span the ideological spectrum.

“No matter where they are, no matter how they fit into our big tent party, [Democrats] are meeting voters at the kitchen table, not the gilded ballroom,” he said in a statement.

Democrats say they will carry that message into 2026.

“When we fight, we win,” the DNC said after California voters approved Prop 50, and Virginia Democrats said their new governing alignment will allow them to “move the Commonwealth forward.”

Lawrence Wilson, Jacob Burg, Joseph Lord, Jackson Richman, Arjun Singh, and Nathan Worcester contributed to this report.