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Democrats Sweep Three Major Races in New York, New Jersey and Virginia; Interview with Senator Adam Schiff (D-CA); Democrats Sweep Major Races in NYC, New Jersey, Virginia; NYC Mayor-Elect Mamdani Calls out Trump in Fiery Victory Speech. Aired 12-1a ET

Aired November 05, 2025 - 00:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM (D), CALIFORNIA: That continue to this moment and will continue in moments to come. If you think I'm exaggerating, consider his announcement just a few weeks ago to send rapid response teams all across the United States, in all 50 states, tens of thousands of members of the military prepared for urban deployment. A preview of things to come.

But back to this state, our state of mind was resolute. Our state of mind was resolved to stand firm and to stand tall, to not be intimidated, to not be humiliated, to not fall prey to cynicism, to not fall prey to fear and the anxiety of someone that believes in only one thing, shock and awe, to intimidate and exhaust us.

But we're seeing all across this country seven million people, strong, standing up, not just for themselves, but for each other. And for these enduring and historic principles of our founding fathers. And I'll end on that. Next year is the 250th anniversary of the best of Roman Republic, the best of Greek democracy. This fundamental notion of a system of checks and balances, a popular sovereignty.

The rule of law, Mr. President. The rule of law, not the rule of dawn. And I hope it's dawning on people. The sobriety of this moment. What's at stake. Tonight, as I said, is an extraordinary moment for our party. But again, it's an extraordinary moment affirming those principles. Our founding fathers did not live and die to see the kind of vandalism to this republic and our democracy that Donald Trump is trying to perpetuate.

And so my call tonight, in the spirit of Whitman, who talked about the powerful play, goes on. We all must contribute a verse. And so we need -- we need the state of Virginia. We need the state of Maryland. We need our friends in New York, in Illinois, and Colorado. We need to see other states with the remarkable leaders that have been doing remarkable things. Meet this moment head on as well to recognize what we're up against in 2026.

And let me make this crystal clear. We can de facto end Donald Trump's presidency as we know it. The minute Speaker Jeffries gets sworn in as speaker of the House of Representatives. It is all on the line. A bright line in 2026. And so I want to thank everybody that stood up, not just for our democracy, but stood up for those that feel bullied and intimidated, stood up for this notion of co-equal branches of government and a system of checks and balances.

And I want to thank my wife, who reminds me every single day, that this is about those that feel alone, those that feel isolated, those that feel an anxiety and a stress that they never could have imagined in their lives. This was about saying to them, we have your back. We see you. You matter. We care. And I'll just say this, I'm confident as we move forward into 2026, in this country, the best is yet to come.

Thank you very much.

ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN ANCHOR: What's the lesson for other Democrats from tonight? Do you think President Trump will hear the message?

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: All right. CNN's Elex Michaelson trying to get some questions in there for California Governor Gavin Newsom giving a rather sober speech. One might even call it the first speech of the 2028 campaign. What did you think?

DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR: It was definitely more focused on 2026, which I guess is in effect if you do well in 2026 and he's a part of it, that sets him up for 2028. But the warnings that he gave using what President Trump put on his Truth Social platform tonight, saying that the vote in California was unconstitutional and weaving that into what we're hearing from other Democrats, what the Trump Justice Department is doing in making moves ahead of the 2026 election. That was very striking, and I think we're going to hear a lot more about that.

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TAPPER: And, Kasie, you've been texting with folks on a chain, your sources about the Democratic message coming out of this night of victories coast to coast. We've covered the governor's race in New Jersey and in Virginia, the mayor's race in New York, the Prop 50 referendum in California. But it goes much, much deeper than that, down to the school board level. Democrats just winning all sorts of races.

KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: Right. Really broad and really deep. And as you mentioned, we've seen -- some of my sources agreed to do what we do on nights like this in public, right? Text each other and have a conversation about this. And I had asked a version of the question that you saw our Elex Michaelson asked right there, which is what lessons should national Democrats take away from the campaign and will kind of let it play out for you.

But Liz Smith was one of the people who joined us. She, of course, is really a Democratic -- she's like a dog fighter of a campaign operative, right? She worked for Andrew Cuomo, and she's been kind of touting Mamdani and his successes. And she says that Democrats have learned or should take away that, one, people are sick of the status quo when they are force-fed subpar candidates and told to vote or else.

And two, the Democrats need to meet voters where they are and talk about the things that keep them up at night, like how unaffordable life is on every level. And she went back and forth with Maria Comella, who is a Democratic operative in New Jersey who has some other things to say. But I think that sets up the conversation we're going to have here well. I mean, the basic bottom line here that candidates matter quite a bit and it's not enough to just be against Donald Trump. You have to be for something, too.

TAPPER: And should we bring in Ken Martin, the chair, Ken Martin, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, who joins us now?

What do you think the message is? Because obviously, we've gotten very different messages. You have Newsom, who is trying to present himself as something of a statesman, talking about people who feel alone and isolated. You had Spanberger and Mikie Sherrill running more moderate, centrist suburban campaigns, and then you have Zohran Mamdani, a firebrand socialist, giving a very aspirational, bold and defiant speech.

KEN MARTIN, DNC CHAIR: Look, American voters sent a clear message tonight throughout the nation, right? They rejected the extremism of the Republican Party. They elected Democrats. And, you know, while people want to focus on the differences in this big tent party of ours, what's really clear is that there's a through line when you think about Zohran Mamdani, Abigail Spanberger, Mikie Sherrill, and other Democrats who are successful on the ballot tonight.

They focused on those kitchen table issues. They didn't focus on the gilded ballrooms and the marble, you know, fixtures. What they focused in on was squarely an agenda that they ran for something. And I agree with my friend Liz Smith on this, which is, at the end of the day, what people want in this country right now is people are going to stand up, fight for them and their families, give them a chance, give them an opportunity.

And you know, the reason we've been successful, right? Not just tonight. It was a blue sweep, by the way. It was an amazing victory. Not just those two big governor's races in Pennsylvania. We kept those three Supreme Court races. Of course, Prop 50 in California. Mainly we defeated that constitutional amendment that would have infringed on people's voting rights. In Georgia, we won the first two statewide races, nonfederal races in over 20 years, right?

We saw a huge swing with voters throughout this country. Young voters moved back to the Democratic Party in a big way. Independent voters broke on a two to one rate for Democrats across the board this evening. What this suggests right now is not just that we win on an anti-Trump message. We have to present something positive. We have to give them a sense of what we're fighting for and why.

And I've been saying that. I said that in my race for chair. I've been saying that all year, which is why we've overperformed at a historic rate. 45 elections on the ballot since tonight, before tonight. And we overperformed at a record rate, 16 percentage points on average. And you see the huge overperformance tonight. The Democratic Party is back. And the message to Republicans right now is you better figure it out because the old playbook that you have running on all these cultural issues, no one gives a shit about that.

What they care about right now is they care about the kitchen table issues. They care about the fact that they can't afford their rent, they can't afford their groceries. They're worried about health care. They're worried about how they're going to actually get ahead in life and they want someone to stand up and fight.

TAPPER: Well, I hear what you're saying, that -- those are -- a lot of those issues are the reasons why Trump won last November.

MARTIN: Of course.

TAPPER: Right?

MARTIN: And guess what?

TAPPER: The affordability issues.

MARTIN: You're right. And guess what? They did vote for him on that. And he lied to them. He hasn't done one thing since he was inaugurated to actually deliver on those promises. So there's no doubt that that anti-Trump sentiment is huge in this country right now. He's at an all-time low of 37 percent. But let's not take away from the candidates' positive message. Whether it's Zohran Mamdani, Abigail Spanberger, Mikie Sherrill.

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They ran for something. They gave the American voters, in their states, they gave them a value proposition. Vote for us and here's what we would do to actually improve your lives. And that's the difference here. Now we're going to keep calling out Donald Trump because clearly he hasn't delivered on those promises at all. All he cares about is the rich, the powerful and the well-connected in this country. We're going to keep fighting for average, everyday working people.

BASH: So, Ken, what's the plan between now and election day 2026?

MARTIN: Keep winning. The plan is --

BASH: I mean, besides that, how do you do that?

MARTIN: The plan is to keep our foot on the gas, to not to take anything for granted, to get out there and do what we've been doing all year long. The DNC was the first committee out there doing direct voter contact, having conversations with voters, making sure we're engaging them earlier than ever before in a conversation around their hopes, their dreams. What type of communities they want.

And then centering that in our messaging, making sure that we're reflecting what's happening in this country and our agenda. And clearly, clearly across the country, people are rejecting the extremism of the Republican Party and embracing this new Democratic Party that's focused on their economic future. HUNT: Republicans are going to say that Democrats are leading with a

socialist. What's your answer to that? I mean, Zohran Mamdani opened with a quote from Eugene V. Debs.

MARTIN: Look, here's -- they're going to call us socialists, no matter who is in our party. I've said this all along. We are a big tent party. We have conservative Democrats, centrists, we have progressives, and we have leftists. We win elections through addition, not subtraction. We win by growing our coalition and bringing people in. And we need different faces and different candidates in different places and spaces around the country to win. Right?

I'm going to reject this idea that there's one way or one stripe to be a Democrat. That's how we lose. When people say, well, you have to be this stripe of candidate. Now, the type of candidate that you need in New York is certainly much different than the type of Democrat you need in a Virginia or in a New Jersey. So I just reject the premise of that. It takes all of us. And that's why we're going to win because this new Democratic Party is not going to push people out. We're going to invite people in.

TAPPER: So you say new, new Democratic Party. And I can't help but notice that Governor-elect Sherrill is 53, and Governor-elect Spanberger is 46. And Mayor-elect Mamdani is 34. Your party, though, has a lot of people in it who just will not retire. They're in their 70s. They're in their 80s. There's a "New York" magazine story about it right now, about all the members of the House and Senate in your party, in particular, who just won't retire.

Is the age of your candidates that won tonight, Gavin Newsom is fairly young himself also, is that also part of what's going on here?

MARTIN: Look, it's not a question of age, you know, because at the end of the day, what people want, right, is they want fighters. The divide right now in our party is not ideological, nor is it age. The divide right now is between those who are fighting and those who are sitting on the sidelines. You know, I reject this idea. There's plenty of older elected officials and older candidates, frankly, who are fighting and what Democrats want and frankly what Americans want right now is fighters.

People are going to stand up and use the power they have to actually fight for their communities, fight for their families. That's the true divide right now. So I reject this ageism that's out there, right? There's plenty of young people who are elected office who are doing nothing, right, with the power they have. Just like there are plenty of older candidates and elected officials who are using the power they have to make a difference.

So, look, I understand what you're saying. What people want is fighters and we need more fighters in the Democratic Party. And you saw those fighters emerge tonight in races across the country.

TAPPER: Ken Martin, congratulations. Your party had quite a night.

MARTIN: We're back. TAPPER: All right. A victorious night for Democrats, winning two

governor's mansions, Abigail Spanberger in Virginia and Mikie Sherrill in New Jersey. Zohran Mamdani securing a historic, trailblazing victory in the New York City's mayoral race, and the big win in California for Democrats who had voters approve a new U.S. House map.

Our coverage continues with CNN's Abby Phillip in New York.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening. I'm Abby Phillip here in New York City on a very consequential election night in America.

Democrats have delivered a clean sweep of all of the key races in the first major test of President Trump's second term. Now, California Governor Gavin Newsom just capped the night moments ago, declaring victory in his redistricting ballot measure known as Prop 50. Now, this is the one that will effectively neutralize the Republican favored congressional seats that Texas has drawn up. It has major consequences for the midterms.

Meanwhile, here in New York City, a political earthquake took place. Zohran Mamdani continues to send shockwaves through the political system, and CNN has now projected that the 34-year-old Democratic socialist will be the city's next mayor. Mamdani, toppling former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.

And in New Jersey, Democrat Mikie Sherrill outlasting a late push by Republican Jack Ciattarelli to become the state's next governor. This was the one race where Republicans thought that they may be able to pull an upset off, but they did not.

And down in Virginia, Sherrill's former congressional roommate also winning the governor's race. CNN projects the Democrat Abigail Spanberger will make history as the first woman to serve as governor in that commonwealth.

All of the candidates tonight talked about the cost of living as the main issue that drove their campaigns, but also made it clear that they stand ready to oppose Donald Trump.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ZOHRAN MAMDANI (D), NEW YORK MAYOR-ELECT: So hear me, President Trump, when I say this, to get to any of us, you will have to get through all of us. While we cast our ballots alone, we chose hope together. Hope over tyranny. Hope over big money and small ideas. Hope over despair.

ABIGAIL SPANBERGER (D), VIRGINIA GOVERNOR-ELECT: We sent a message to the whole world that in 2025, Virginia chose pragmatism over partisanship. We chose our commonwealth over chaos.

MIKIE SHERRILL (D), NEW JERSEY GOVERNOR-ELECT: We're going to follow Lady Liberty's beacon. We're not going to give in to our darker impulses. Here in New Jersey we know that this nation has not ever been, nor will it ever be ruled by kings.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIP: Now, as both parties take stock of these election results tonight, the shadow of the government shutdown looms large. As of this hour it is now officially the longest shutdown in American history, at 36 days. Much more on that later in the evening with my panel here. But first we begin the night with the big night for Democrats in these races.

Leading off our coverage is California Democratic Senator Adam Schiff.

Senator Schiff, thank you for joining us. What is your read on what the moral of the story is here for Democrats? You've got some moderates winning in two states, and then you have a Democratic socialist winning in New York City. What are Democrats to take away from that?

SEN. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA): Well, first of all, great night for Democrats. East, west, north, south. And it's been a long time since I've been able to say that. But I think it's a couple things. I think, first and foremost, in the races involving candidates, we had good, strong, charismatic candidates who were challenging the status quo. And that makes a real difference. They were running positive campaigns based on agenda of change.

That was designed to focus on bringing down costs, making sure we preserved health care, meeting the needs of their constituents, improving the economy. So they had a powerful positive message. But it was also a referendum on Donald Trump. In California, for example, where there was no candidate on the ballot, it was simple proposition, that is the redistricting measure in California. That was a clear repudiation of Donald Trump and his efforts to essentially trying to lock in a deeply unpopular majority.

So varying candidates, different political philosophies, all agents of change, offering something very positive and at the same time a rejection of Donald Trump, a rejection of the Republican regressive policies.

PHILLIP: Speaking of Prop 50 in California, CNN is projecting that that proposition will pass as you said. But voters also said in our exit poll that they prefer a nonpartisan commission to join -- to draw these district lines. So, I mean, would you support moving back to that process if other states disarm and stop redistricting efforts?

SCHIFF: Oh, absolutely. And I think what Californians are saying is, look, our commission was popular. We supported having an independent commission draw the lines, but we're not going to unilaterally disarm. And in particular, if the president and Republicans try to do this rare mid-decade redistricting so that they can lock in their deeply unpopular majority, we're going to fight back. They poked the bear and the bear fought back.

But what I hope comes out of this at the end of the day is a national redistricting reform that outlaws a gerrymander in every state. That's legislation that I've supported for years. Republicans have opposed for years. But maybe this is the impetus we all need to get that done. But I think Californians understood very much how our democracy was at risk through these partisan maneuvers by the president and Texas, and they were going to put up with it and just seeing the kind of energy, the turnout in California, in New York and elsewhere, there is a lot of energy.

A lot of that is positive energy, and a lot of that is pushing back against Donald Trump and all the steps he's taken to diminish our democracy.

PHILLIP: So we are now officially in the 36th day of this government shutdown. The election is over, but the Congress is still not working. Democrats and Republicans still not talking. At this point, I mean, now there's a Democratic governor in Virginia where a lot of people are being hurt by this shutdown.

[00:25:04]

Are you comfortable continuing to hold out on reopening the government for even longer than this point? Are you -- do you think that that is the right strategy for Democrats if Republicans don't commit to changes on the ACA subsidies?

SCHIFF: I think Democrats need to keep fighting to preserve access to health care. And right now, millions are about to be separated from their health care because they can't afford their policies, thanks to what Donald Trump and the Republicans have done. Those notices are going out. People are checking online to see what they're going to have to pay. For a great many millions of Americans are going to have to pay double. That's unsustainable.

So I think Democrats need to continue to fight for health care and make sure that those costs are brought down. The president campaigned on bringing down costs. They've done nothing but skyrocket. The president on his social media tonight acknowledged that the shutdown is part of the reason Republicans are losing. And it makes sense. They're controlling everything. They control the White House, the House, the Senate.

They've been unwilling to negotiate with Democrats. And so I think we need to hold firm, demand changes that make health care affordable for people. I want to see the government reopen, but I also want to see people be able to afford their insurance. And it shouldn't be too much to ask in the wealthiest country in the world that we be able to do both, that we have both a functioning government, but also that we have accessible health care for people.

PHILLIP: All right. Senator Adam Schiff, thank you very much for joining us this late hour here on the East Coast. We appreciate your time tonight. Thank you.

SCHIFF: Thank you.

PHILLIP: Back here in the studio with our panel, our contributors, Astead Herndon, Xochitl Hinojosa, Shermichael Singleton, Scott Jennings and Kate Bedingfield.

Let's start on the politics of what happened tonight because this has been a week of very bad news, Shermichael, for President Trump in terms of what Americans think of the job that he's doing and the state of the economy. And then now these results. So if you're a Republican right now, what changes need to be made?

SHERMICHAEL SINGLETON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: So I'm looking at this from two different perspectives. I'm not surprised by the results in New Jersey and Virginia. I think what's important for Republicans is to assess the actual turnout. I'm curious to see what the numbers look like with Hispanics, with 44 percent of voted for the president last year. I'm curious to see how black men voted. 21 percent that the president garnered last year.

I'm also curious to see how a segment of younger voters who also outperformed for Republicans compared to our Democratic counterparts. Those numbers will tell a tell-tale sign in terms of what I think Republicans ought to do and what the focus should be. It's clear that the economy is still impacting a lot of people. There's just no doubt about that. I think we've done a pretty decent job on immigration for the most part, but the cost of living is something that I think a lot of people expect Republicans to address.

And I think one of the reasons Mamdani had a pill in New York, while I vociferously disagreed with everything he stands for, when he talks about free grocery stores, he's appealing to people who are struggling in this city to pay for groceries. I understand psychologically why that resonates. When he talks about free busses, I understand why people who are struggling to afford to get to work, why they say, OK, well, this seems to make a little bit of sense to me.

And when he talks about taxing the wealthy again, I get the through line. But the question I think that conservatives have to remind people, how is this sustainable? And it isn't.

PHILLIP: Yes. I mean, there's definitely a lot of questions on the Mamdani piece of it, but I think the other part of what voters are saying is that it's not just that the economy is affecting them. They also think that Donald Trump's policies are hurting them. That's a problem for Republicans because Trump is not on the ballot, by the way. He can't use his own charisma to get past this. They're going to be duking it out on their own.

XOCHITL HINOJOSA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, yes. That's right. And I think that when it comes to Democrats, and Kate knows this very well, especially in the last administration, is Joe Biden tried to talk about the economy. He tried. But at the end of the day, voters were not feeling it. At the end of the day, they voted for Donald Trump because they wanted to lower costs.

Now it is voters that don't feel that and actually believe that they don't trust the Republican Party when it comes to costs, when it comes to lowering health care costs and overall cost of living. And so there aren't a lot of things that these three candidates have in common that we're talking about tonight. But the one thing that they do have in common is all of them are talking about the economy.

And so regardless of what happens, if things do not get better for voters over the next year, I think a big question Republicans will need to ask themselves is, is it safe to be campaigning next to Donald Trump come next year ahead of the midterm elections?

PHILLIP: Well, I mean --

HINOJOSA: Because as of right now, it seems like it hurts these candidates.

PHILLIP: Well, the lessons -- what I'm seeing from MAGA folks online is, oh, Republicans lost because they weren't close enough to Donald Trump.

Scott, do you agree with that?

[00:30:04]

SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I mean, these are off-year elections in blue states. And I was expecting Democrats to win.

I think a couple of things can be true. No. 1, it's easy to overread this. These are blue state elections. You had a proposition on the ballot in California that was supported by the Democrats. They run California. New York City is a liberal city. It's easy to overread this.

At the same time, what Xochitl said is true. How people feel about the economy will ultimately determine their happiness or unhappiness with the party in power. They were unhappy with the party in power in 2024. Republicans will face this in 2026.

I will just point out, however, that the redistricting wars that California continued tonight are probably going to net out to Republican benefit. And if the Supreme Court tosses out Section Two of the Voting Rights Act, it may net out 12 to 19 more seats for the Republicans.

So, I'm holding my predictive fire until I see how the maps turn out.

PHILLIP: Is that -- is that -- is that the thing that --

JENNINGS: But I don't -- I'm not -- I'm not going to -- I'm not going to freak out about blue states voting for Democrats.

PHILLIP: That's very telling. Because it sounds like the strategy is don't fix any of the electoral political problems, just fix the maps. Is that right?

JENNINGS: Well, no. What problems? I was not -- I was not -- I was not --

PHILLIP: I mean --

JENNINGS: I was not expecting Republicans to win. You're acting like I should be surprised. Democrats won Democrat states.

PHILLIP: -- as we've discussed, there -- there are clearly problems. And I also -- I mean, I did want to address the whole blue-state thing. I mean, Virginia is always a bellwether state.

JENNINGS: Not -- not always.

PHILLIP: It had a Republican governor prior to this moment.

JENNINGS: It's very unreliable.

PHILLIP: And -- and Donald Trump, I'm going to -- I'm going to give Donald Trump some -- some credit where it's due. He brought both Virginia and North -- and New Jersey to a place that made Democrats extremely uncomfortable in the last election. So, that's why we're looking very closely at these races, because these are places that Trump actually overperformed in the last election.

JENNINGS: It was six points.

KATE BEDINGFIELD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I respect -- I respect Scott's attempt to level-set on expectations. I see what --

JENNINGS: You think I was expecting to win?

BEDINGFIELD: I see what he's doing here. I respect it.

JENNINGS: We were not expecting to win.

BEDINGFIELD: As a -- as a -- as a master of the craft. I expect -- I respect what you're doing to level-set here.

But the reality is that, in Virginia, New Jersey, there was dramatic overperformance. I mean, you know, Sherrill winds up winning by double digits. Spanberger by -- I think, what -- 15. I mean, this -- this was not -- this was not Democrats kind of limping over the finish line in a purple state. This -- you're looking at 60, I think 63 House of Delegates seats in Virginia flipping. You've got public commissioner, two public commissioner seats in Georgia. You know elected officials winning there statewide for the first time in 20 years.

So, there is a significant, I think, overperformance here of expectation, in part because Democrats ran really effective campaigns, tying the pain that people are feeling in their day-to-day lives about the economy to Donald Trump. And -- and voters really reacted.

And so, yes, Republicans, I think, have to deal with that.

JENNINGS: Off-year -- off-year elections now favor Democrats. This is just a condition of the parties. Democrats now have more voters who reliably vote in non-presidential years than Republicans. And in blue states, you throw those two things together, it's a pretty good built- in advantage.

(CROSSTALK)

PHILLIP: What's your thinking on that?

BEDINGFIELD: And that's -- just quickly. That is true demographically.

ASTEAD HERNDON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Absolutely.

BEDINGFIELD: Demographically, that is absolutely true.

However, we are rolling into a midterm election where Democrats being successful in, for example, taking back the House will have a meaningful impact on Donald Trump's presidency moving forward.

So, it's -- it's -- yes, Democrats have historically, since the parties have kind of realigned around this question of higher education, Democrats have performed better in the midterms. But we're rolling into a midterm election.

HERNDON: I definitely think that the last point is an important one. Democrats have improved in off-year elections. I don't think it should be a surprise.

But we should know Republicans were thinking in the last couple of weeks that, particularly in New Jersey, would be somewhere that would be closer than what we saw tonight.

JENNINGS: I agree with that.

HERNDON: And I think that, you know, specifically to the question of electability, this is a good point for Democrats to be able to show that they can pick candidates who can seize on Donald Trump's vulnerabilities.

And I think Donald Trump has made the case himself to tie himself to the economy. Tariffs have done that for voters. It's transitioned the kind of sense of Joe Biden's economy to Donald Trump's economy. He's created a causation that voters are backlashing against. I think that's a through line between what we see today.

When we think about Mamdani and what he did in New York, that feels to me more poignant about the Democratic Party itself. And so, when we think about 2027 and the presidential primary, that's when the question about what do Democrats believe amongst themselves and that affirmative vision becomes important.

But in the short term, Democrats have recruited candidates that can exploit the vulnerabilities among the electorate that Donald Trump has created, because his economic policies are unpopular.

(CROSSTALK)

HERNDON: That is 100 percent true.

SHERMICHAEL SINGLETON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: But why do we keep saying this before the current governor of Virginia, a state I reside in, Glenn Youngkin, the last Republican to be elected, was Bob McDonnell in 2009.

Glenn Youngkin only won by two points in 2001. Only by two points, and luckily won because of the school choice issue. We barely won.

PHILLIP: Well, I think -- well, I do think that the reason --

SINGLETON: So, the fact that the state is going back to a Democrat is not a big surprise.

PHILLIP: I think the reason -- hold on, hold on. Let's not have short political memories here, OK?

[00:35:06]

I do think that the reason that we're talking about Virginia is because of Trump, because Trump put Virginia back in play for Republicans. This was supposed to be something that -- that could have allowed Republicans to be back where they used to be before the string of Democratic governors, where Virginia --

SINGLETON: We never assessed that on our side.

PHILLIP: -- was -- where Virginia was a purple state.

SINGLETON: That was never a part of our calculations.

PHILLIP: Well, look, Donald Trump in 2024, as you know, brought Virginia to a place that was extremely nerve-wracking for Democrats. And I think that this is just a suggestion that that state is no longer going to move in that direction, because Trump isn't on the ballot, A; and B, because now that Trump is president, his policies have disproportionately hurt the state.

So, I mean, I guess my only point is that the idea that Virginia is this permanently blue state is -- that's -- that's a fairly recent phenomenon. It is a purple state.

SINGLETON: I don't agree with that, Abby.

PHILLIP: It is still a swing state. And part of the reason it's a swing state is because of Trump.

SINGLETON: I don't agree with that.

PHILLIP: You should be -- you should be actually -- Trump made Virginia more of a battleground than it had been prior to. And I think that is actually to Trump's credit. But now it's moving in the other direction. And -- and I think that that's just the nature of --

SINGLETON: I'm just -- I'm just simply saying the trends in the state have suggested for quite some time now that it's moving more towards --

PHILLIP: Yes.

SINGLETON: -- a blue state and less than a purple state. That's all I'm simply saying.

BEDINGFIELD: -- Spanberger's win is bigger than the last few Democratic governors, too. So, it's worth --

JENNINGS: Well, candidates matter.

SINGLETON: Also -- But we also -- but Kate, we also saw 5 million Republicans who did not vote, as well. We have to incorporate that into the calculation.

JENNINGS: And Sears -- and most Republicans acknowledge that Sears didn't run a great campaign.

PHILLIP: Let's hit pause. Let's just pause, because we have a lot more to discuss. Everybody stand by.

Up next, Mayor-Elect of New York City Zohran Mamdani, his message to Donald Trump and to Democrats. Stay with us. We'll discuss it when we come back.

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[00:41:11]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ZOHRAN MAMDANI (D), MAYOR-ELECT OF NEW YORK CITY: I am young, despite my best efforts to grow older. I am Muslim. I am a Democratic socialist. And most damning of all, I refuse to apologize for any of this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIP: Mayor-elect of New York City Zohran Mamdani delivering a fiery victory speech after pulling off one of the biggest upsets in New York political history. The 34-year-old is now the city's youngest mayor in a century, and the first Muslim mayor.

My panel is back with me. That speech was a little controversial. And I say that -- I mean, if you were listening to our -- our friends in the last hour, some disappointment that Mamdani didn't reach out to the other side, that he didn't tone things down.

Astead, you've spent some time with him. What did you think?

HERNDON: I could see why they made that argument. I think tonally, I think some folks may be expecting the type of person he presented, you know, particularly in the general election.

I was following it at the time, when he was making a real concerted outreach to the folks who are most skeptical of him and promising that his kind of ideological rigidity would not continue or would not be seen in office; promising he would not have litmus tests. And I believe he intends to follow through on that promises.

But I think what I saw in that speech is what he believes about his inside-out strategy. He thinks that his agenda does not happen if he goes into city hall as a normal politician and asks people to just follow through in the same ways. He needs the public pressure to continue over the next couple of years. And that's something he articulates: that he needs the kind of coalition to come out to kind of force the political establishment to do something they might be a little more uncomfortable with.

I heard that in that speech.

PHILLIP: Yes.

HERNDON: I am pushing -- I am asking my base to continue the pressure that we've started over the last year.

PHILLIP: I have a hard time seeing how you run as an outsider change candidate and not insist on change, like radical change. Because that's actually what he was elected on.

So, it's going to sound tough to the ears of the people who didn't vote for him. But that's what he won on.

SINGLETON: I think the vulnerability here is how do you deliver on these promises?

PHILLIP: Yes.

SINGLETON: When you have the top 1 and 2 percent of income earners in this city who pay more than half of the taxes. If there's a mass exodus of those individuals, your free buses, your free grocery stores, your free whatever you want to think of, it's not going to happen.

And so, at some point, once he's sworn in, he's going to have to govern. It sounds great to promise any and everything to everybody, but when you don't have the income to subsidize those promises, reality is going to hit into that base that you're talking about.

And they're going to say, well, wait a minute here. This stuff isn't happening the way he promised. And that's going to be a real issue for him.

Well, if he doesn't deliver on what he promised the way that Trump has, then he won't get reelected. I mean, that's just the reality of it.

XOCHITL HINOJOSA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: And I think that people in the last panel, obviously -- and I agree with them in the sense that, you know, yes, as a Democrat, you want to hear him reach more to the center, et cetera. But that's not how he ran.

Everything he said in that speech is what he promised on the campaign trail. And it's very different than what Governor-elect Spanberger said in her speech, which she was very much saying, listen, whoever did not vote for me, I am the governor for all Virginians. I will work with anybody. But that's also the state of Virginia.

And my guess is that Democrats running in the midterm elections will be running more like Governor-elect Spanberger than they are Mamdani. They'll be running on costs, but they will be running towards a more moderate electorate than New York City.

PHILLIP: One of the other debates that he kind of has touched off is the generational issue in the Democratic Party. And I spoke to AOC earlier tonight, and I asked her what the Democratic Party should take away from Mamdani victory. And here's what she said.

[00:45:14]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ (D-NY): He had to not just defeat a Republican. He had to defeat a Republican and the old guard of the Democratic Party at the same time. He was fighting a war on two fronts and not just one. And he still won resoundingly.

And I think the message that that sends is that the Democratic Party cannot last much longer by denying the future, by trying to undercut our young, by trying to undercut a next generation of diverse and upcoming Democrats that have the party's -- the actual party that our actual electorate and voters support.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIP: Kate.

BEDINGFIELD: Well, I think I think --

JENNINGS: Chuck Schumer is cooked. You can go ahead and say it.

BEDINGFIELD: Who cares about him?

JENNINGS: Chuck Schumer is cooked.

BEDINGFIELD: Who cares?

JENNINGS: Cooked.

BEDINGFIELD: Look, New York -- New York is one of the most liberal places in the country. AOC also represents New York. Abigail Spanberger, Mikie Sherrill, they also represent the future of the party.

I mean, Democrats have to get back to a place where we are winning elections all across the country, not just in New York City.

I think what Mamdani has done in bringing new energy into the Democratic Party is a good thing. I think that young people in New York City who are excited about him, who have not been excited about the Democratic Party over the last five, ten years, maybe even going back to Obama, although they're all so young that they weren't even of political age in the era of Obama.

So, I think that is a good thing.

However, ultimately, the future of the Democratic Party is not just in New York City. It is in purple districts all across the country. And I -- and I think it's -- I just think it's a false --

PHILLIP: But when she says the future, I don't --

BEDINGFIELD: I think it's a false --

PHILLIP: -- know if she was talking about --

BEDINGFIELD: -- divide.

PHILLIP: -- Mamdani as the future. I think she was talking about young people.

HERNDON: Yes.

PHILLIP: I think she was talking about --

JENNINGS: Like her!

PHILLIP: Well, yes. Yes. Well, yes.

JENNINGS: Right?

PHILLIP: I mean, I think she's talking about the gerontocracy and their unwillingness to leave the stage. That is what she was talking about.

JENNINGS: And obviously, she has been rumored to be looking squarely at the Senate Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer. And, I mean, this was a terrible night for him.

Because obviously, the energy in his party in New York is with these radicals and not with him. And they're coming for these old-guard Democrats. She's clearly going to take him out in '28.

And let me tell you something else about Mamdani.

PHILLIP: I think you might have bigger problems than Chuck Schumer when it comes to AOC, frankly. I mean, she -- she -- let me -- let me play what she said when I asked her about that, because I was thinking about you when I asked her this question.

JENNINGS: Thank you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIP: Republicans are saying that Chuck Schumer is afraid of you. Is he?

OCASIO-CORTEZ: I don't think -- I don't think so. I think that, you know, Senator Schumer and I have worked together. I think that Republicans -- I think Republicans are afraid of me. I'll tell you that much. And I think that they project their fear of me onto him.

So, I think that they're just telling on themselves when they say that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JENNINGS: Hmm.

PHILLIP: All right. To be continued. We have a lot more ahead. I promise. We'll continue. We'll have another bite at this apple because -- because again I don't -- when we talk about AOC, I'm not sure that the Senate is just where she has her eyes on.

But next for us, what makes tonight different from Republicans' 2024 victory? Harry Enten is digging into the numbers for us. Harry, we will be right back with you.

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[00:52:58]

PHILLIP: Democrats scoring big wins tonight, sweeping both key races for governor in Virginia and in New Jersey, races many are describing as a referendum on Trump's first term [SIC] in office.

Abigail Spanberger and Mikie Sherrill both defeating their GOP opponents with commanding double-digit leads. But just one year ago, Kamala Harris carried those states by much slimmer margins, with Trump overperforming expectations. So, let's get more from the only person we can get more from: CNN's chief data analyst Harry Enten --

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: Oh, God.

PHILLIP: -- at the Magic Wall.

Harry, how did these Democrats manage to overperform in these two states compared to what Trump was doing on the ballot just a year ago? We were just talking about this earlier in the show.

ENTEN: Yes, I'm not sure I'm the only guy, but I'm the only guy with a wall. So, I guess I'm the only guy, right?

PHILLIP: Yes.

ENTEN: You know, you're mentioning Virginia. Let's go to Virginia.

You know, we're talking about this 15-point margin going away here for Abigail Spanberger. I think there was, like, one pre-election poll that had the margin that big. I mean, a lot of folks talk about, oh, the polls underestimate Republicans. Not in the commonwealth of Virginia. We're talking about they underestimated Abigail Spanberger.

But, you know, I heard that discussion that was going on. Oh, you know, Virginia, purple state, maybe leaning blue, but we're talking about a 15-point margin here. Where were we last year? I mean, last year you saw Kamala Harris win, but only by six points. Fifteen points, that's a nine-point overperformance from what we had just a year ago in the commonwealth of Virginia.

Then of course, we can jump up to the state of New Jersey. Right? OK. What are we talking about? A year ago, in the presidential race, you saw it was a blue state.

Kamala Harris won by six points, though. Compare that to what we had this time around. What are we talking about? We're talking about Mikie Sherrill going away by -- look at this. This is a 13-point margin. Again, vastly overperforming expectations.

So yes, these are blue states, at least what we saw last year. But this year, they were far, far bluer.

And I might just point out quickly in New Jersey, go to a place like Passaic. Look at that. Mikie Sherrill by 15 points. You go back a year ago. Look at that. It was Donald Trump winning by three points. A heavy -- heavily Hispanic county.

[00:55:02]

PHILLIP: Yes.

ENTEN: Jack Ciattarelli couldn't hold those gains.

PHILLIP: So -- so what has happened with Donald Trump in these states? I mean, because if this is a referendum on his performance as president, something dramatic must have changed.

ENTEN: Yes. I mean, what happened? You know, let's talk about New Jersey first.

Look at the exit poll here. Look at the opinion of Donald Trump. You don't have to be a mathematical genius. Look at that. The approval rating; 42 percent, disapproval 55. Looks a whole heck of a lot like what we see nationally. Right?

And then, of course, we can go to Virginia. What do we see in Virginia in the exit poll? Similar story, except even worse of a showing for Donald Trump. Approval rating, 39. Disapproval, 58 percent. No wonder the Republicans really had no chance, given what these numbers look like in terms of the approval/disapproval.

We see very similar numbers nationally. We'll see if the results match it, come the midterm 2026. And now, it's only a year away, Abby.

PHILLIP: Oh, time flies. Time flies.

ENTEN: I know, right?

PHILLIP: Harry, stand by for us. Don't go anywhere.

ENTEN: I won't.

PHILLIP: Democrats are sweeping key elections across the country tonight. Our live coverage continues right after this.

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