'We got our asses handed to us.'
Snapshot of a stunned America amid shocking results
Results on Election Day took the nation and the world by surprise.
Hard data reshaped the political narrative and stole the spotlight:
“We got our asses handed to us,” said Vivek Ramaswamy, a biotech billionaire running for governor in Ohio with President Trump’s endorsement. “People feel like electric bills are too high, healthcare costs are out of control.”
“It was an electoral blowout,” said U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, calling election night a “disaster” while New Jersey specifically was “disastrous” and Virginia “terrible.”
“The Republican Party needs to get its s**t together A.S.A.P.,” said podcaster Megyn Kelly. “… Trump is all over the Middle East while people’s grocery bills are still high. They’re still dealing with inflation. They’re suffering. That’s it, OK? Focus on domestic policy and on making people’s lives better.”
Despite being called scum, vermin and enemies of the people, Democrats won.
Fox News host Bret Baier told President Trump that in states where Republicans lost local, state and federal races, “On the economy, the poll numbers are upside down …”
Trump told Baier that Democrats lie. “We’ve done a great job.”
Vice President JD Vance tweeted to his 4.8 million followers on X, “It’s idiotic to overreact to a couple of elections in blue states.”
Folks might argue that neither Georgia nor Pennsylvania is a blue state.
Fact is, even heavily Republican parts of the country ousted GOP officials who held the roles of mayor, sheriff and prosecutor, said Jake Tapper on CNN. U.S. Rep. Lisa McClain of Bruce Township, Mich., replied, “Voter turnout from Republicans was not high, not high at all. I think part of that reason is that Republicans for the most part are happy with what’s happening … I shop at the same grocery stories everybody else does. Is there more work that needs to be done? Absolutely there is.”
Steve Liesman at CNBC reported on Thursday, Nov. 6, that announced corporate job cuts surged past 1 million so far in 2025, with 153,000 new layoffs just in October — “the worst October since 2003.”
People clamored to vote, even in states that had no elections scheduled.
Michael Adams, the Republican secretary of state in Kentucky, tweeted on Election Day, “We’re getting calls about polls being closed. They are closed because we do not have elections today. Kentucky votes next year. You cannot vote today in Kentucky for the mayor of New York City or the Governor of Virginia. Sorry.”
Here’s a snapshot of shocking outcomes based preliminary results:
Georgia saw higher margins of victory for Democrats than California. Democrats ousted two incumbents on the powerful Georgia Public Service Commission.
Virginia voters elected Abigail Spanberger, a former congresswoman and CIA officer, became the first female elected governor. Democrats won lieutenant governor and attorney general, too. In the House of Delegates, Democrats grew their majority from 51-49 to 64-36. Winners included the first Chinese-American legislator.
New Jersey elected Michelle “Mikie” Sherrill, a congresswoman who served as a naval aviator and a federal prosecutor. Democrats also secured a supermajority in the New Jersey Assembly.
In Pennsylvania, voters decided they wanted a Democrat to serve as Bucks County District Attorney for the first time since anyone can remember, quite possibly the 1800s. Democrats also won Bucks County sheriff, Erie County executive, four Luzerne County Council seats that shifted control, four Chambersburg borough seats that shifted control, and flipped a seat on the Newtown Township board of supervisors for the first time ever. In Cumberland County, a GOP stronghold that has backed Trump in the past, Democrats flipped county offices by huge margins.
In Mississippi, Democrats broke a GOP supermajority in the Senate.
Moms for Liberty candidates lost 31 of 31 races nationally. They oppose school curricula that mentions LGBTQ rights, race, ethnicity, critical race theory and discrimination. Chapters have campaigned to ban books from school libraries. In deep red Roanoke County, Va., a school board seat flipped control, which some might compare to snow in June.
In South Carolina, Democrats flipped a seat on the Cayce City Council and on Aiken City Council.
In New York, Albany elected its first Black mayor. State Rep. Zohran Mamdani defeated former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who resigned after a sexual harassment scandal, in the fight to succeed New York City Mayor Eric Adams. (Adams, a former NYPD captain indicted in 2024 on bribery and fraud charges, saw charges dropped for political expediency in 2025, according to the U.S. Department of Justice in 2025.) Billionaires spent tens of millions trying to defeat Mamdani, the Democratic nominee who has promised free bus service and child care.
Fox hosts warned viewers that polling didn’t look good for Republicans nationally.
Fox News reported that 71% of the voters who cast ballots for Mikie Sherrill for New Jersey governor said they wanted to “oppose the sitting president.”
Fox News also reported that its latest polling showed about 70% of Americans say groceries are more expensive now than they were a year ago and about 60% of them are blaming President Trump.
James Blair, political director of Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign and the Republican National Committee, told Politico reporter Dasha Burns that ads run by Sherrill in New Jersey’s race for governor were 75% positive, focusing on cost of living and lowering power costs. In Virginia, more than half the ads run by GOP candidate for governor “focused on transgender,” Blair said. “It’s not even the top five issues, according to voters.”
“Why did Zohran Mamdani do so well?” said Blair, who serves as Trump’s White House deputy chief of staff. “He relentlessly focused on affordability. People can talk about Communists, they can say all these things. The fact is, he was talking about the cost of living.”
Other key Election Day activity worth noting:
California passed Prop. 50 to redraw the state’s congressional maps.
In Colorado, candidates backed by the Colorado Education Association won 80% of their races. Also, voters passed Prop. MM to pay for school lunches by reducing income tax deductions that can be claimed by households earning $300,000 or more in federal adjusted income. Nonpartisan legislative staff estimated the average single filer would owe an additional $327 in taxes and the average joint filer would owe an extra $574, according to the Colorado Sun.
Detroit elected Mary Sheffield, its first female mayor, in a landslide victory over the Rev. Solomon Kinloch. She succeeds Mayor Mike Duggan, a former prosecutor and deputy county executive in Wayne County, who has led the city since 2014. Kinloch caused an uproar after a televised debate when he said he’d welcome National Guard troops “in collaboration to make sure we’re protecting soft spots in the city of Detroit.”
In Ohio, Vice President Vance’s half-brother, Cory Bowman, failed to unseat Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval, a Democrat.
Bowman, pastor of The River Church Cincinnati, posted to his 12,000 friends on Facebook the day after the election, “The Bible says in 1 Timothy 2 that we are to pray for all who are in authority so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity,” Bowman wrote. “To every person reading this—whether you supported me or opposed me, whether you agree or disagree … know that I love you, but more importantly, Jesus loves you.”
Meanwhile, Megyn Kelly said that in order for Republican candidates to win, Donald Trump must be on the ballot.
“The Republican Party is not strong. Donald Trump is strong,” she told her podcast viewers after the election. “Republicans don’t know how to win. They don’t know who to run. They don’t know what to do when daddy’s not there to fly them across the finish line.”
Trump can’t seek re-election since a third term is prohibited by the U.S. Constitution.
U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican representing northwest Georgia, from metro Atlanta to the Tennessee border, has become a vocal critic of leadership, especially House Speaker Mike Johnson, who represents northwest Louisiana.
Greene has pleaded to see a healthcare plan as millions of Americans face loss of coverage.
“I will praise Nancy Pelosi. She had an incredible career for her party,” Greene said Thursday, Nov. 6 on CNN. “I served under her speakership in my first term in Congress and I’m very impressed at her ability to get things done. I wish we could get things done for our party like Nancy Pelosi was able to deliver for her party.”
Phoebe Wall Howard began covering state and national politics in 1988 in Arkansas, then went on to cover campaigns and policy in Iowa, California and Michigan.
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Great election wrap-up. Let’s work to make sure the elections in 2026 are held with integrity and without interference.
Excellent recap. BTW , Mikie Sherrill is the 1st democratic woman to be elected to be governor of NJ. If I remember correctly Christie Todd Whitman (r) was the first woman elected governor in NJ back in the “90’s”. I think she went on to lead the EPA during the GHWB administration.