The Races to Watch on Election Day 2025

Election week is here and voters will go to the polls in a handful of states to elect governors, attorney generals, and decide on ballot measures.

Election Day 2025, despite being a political off-year where no major federal offices are on the ballot, that could nevertheless have sweeping implications for the U.S. on a national stage moving forward.

In Virginia, a series of high-profile statewide offices are on the ballot. In New Jersey, Republicans hope to build on Trump’s gains in the state in 2024, while Democrats find themselves facing an unexpectedly tough race in the blue state.

In New York City, voters seem primed to back a self-described democratic socialist who threatens a showdown with the administration and immigration enforcement.

Other races could have wide-reaching implications on future midterm and presidential elections.

Here are the races to watch on Election Day.

Virginia Governor and Lt. Governor

In Virginia, voters will cast their ballots for governor, lieutenant governor, and attorney general.

Virginia’s governor’s race always falls at the end of the first year of a president’s term, which has caused the race to often be seen as a referendum on the president’s first year in office thanks to its proximity to the capital and demographics.

Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears and former Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.) are running in the gubernatorial race to succeed Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who cannot run for successive terms in accordance with the state constitution.

In a state that has voted for Democrats over the past 20 years, former Vice President Kamala Harris won it in the 2024 election by six points, while former President Joe Biden won it in the 2020 election by 10 points.

The polls have consistently shown Spanberger in the lead.

Sears’ platform includes reducing the cost of living, being tough on crime, school choice, protecting women’s sports, and protecting the right to work.

Spanberger is running on a platform of lowering healthcare costs, public safety, defending abortion, protecting the environment, standing with veterans, transparency, and investing in rural Virginia.

New Jersey

Up north in New Jersey, Rep. Mikie Sherill (D-N.J.) is running against Republican businessman Jack Ciattarelli.

Ciattarelli ran for governor in 2021, narrowly losing to Gov. Phil Murphy.

Though historically a blue state, New Jersey came within 6 points of backing Trump over Harris in 2024.

Polls show Sherill barely leading Ciattarelli in the current race—maintaining just a one-point lead in the latest poll out of the state.

Sherill’s platform includes affordability, protecting abortion rights, public safety, and transparency.
Ciattarelli is running on affordability, government reform, school choice, modernizing transportation, public safety, gun rights, and combating anti-Semitism.

New York Mayor

In New York City, voters will cast their ballots in a three-way mayoral race that could have far-reaching consequences for the city and beyond.

Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic Party nominee who describes himself as a democratic socialist, is heavily favored to win, maintaining a double-digit lead in polling since July.

He faces former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, running as an independent, and Curtis Sliwa, the Republican nominee known for wearing a red beret.

Previously, sitting New York City Mayor Eric Adams was also running for reelection as an independent, but he dropped out on Sept. 28 and backed Cuomo.

In the most recent polls, a consistent picture has emerged: Mamdani has garnered about 45 percent of the vote in recent polls, compared to about 30 percent for Cuomo and roughly 15 percent for Sliwa.

Mamdani has run on a platform of city-run grocery stores, free buses, rent freezes for stabilized tenants, free child care, a minimum wage of $30 per hour by 2030, a tax on those making more than $1 million annually, and a department of community safety.

Trump has been outspoken about his opposition to Mamdani, whom he’s described as a communist and a “Radical Leftie.”

Pennsylvania Supreme Court

In Pennsylvania, voters will cast ballots in a race that could have significant impacts on national elections down the road.

In the commonwealth, three members of the highest court, including Christine Donohue, Kevin Dougherty, and David Wecht, are up for reelection—though they aren’t facing any named opponents.

Instead, voters will simply decide whether they should remain on the bench. Should the justices be retained, they would serve another 10 years.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro has called for them to be retained.

Given Pennsylvania’s swing state-status, the state supreme court could play a vital role in election-related matters in the future.

Millions of dollars have been poured into the race on both sides as Republicans seek to have them removed from the bench in the election.

The court has been controlled by Democrats since 2015.

Virginia Attorney General

The attorney general race in the commonwealth has also attracted attention as a text messaging scandal has embroiled the Democrat nominee, Jay Jones.

Jones, who served in the Virginia House of Delegates and is running against incumbent Republican Jason Miyares, texted a former Republican colleague that if he had two bullets he would use them on Todd Gilbert, the former speaker of the House of Delegates, instead of Adolf Hitler or Pol Pot.

Jones apologized to Gilbert.

“Let me be very clear: I am ashamed, I am embarrassed, and I am sorry. I am sorry to Speaker Gilbert, I am sorry to his family, and I am sorry to every single Virginian,” he said during a debate on Oct. 16.

The incumbent Republican attorney general, Jason Miyares, said that Jones is unqualified to lead.

“Jay Jones has not had the experience or the judgment to serve as the top prosecutor,” he continued. “We have seen a window to who Jay Jones is and what he thinks that people disagree with him.”

The latest polls mostly show Miyares narrowly leading. A Washington Post poll has Miyares and Jones tied at 46 percent.

As attorney general, Miyares secured more than $1 billion in settlements from pharmaceutical manufacturers and distributors for their alleged role in the opioid crisis, according to his campaign website.

Miyares has prioritized prosecuting violent crime, according to his campaign website.

Jones’ platform includes protecting civil and constitutional rights, protecting the right to abortion, and fighting the Trump administration.

Proposition 50 and Other Ballot Measures

Voters across multiple states will also consider key ballot measures, including several of national interest.
The most-watched of these will be California’s Proposition 50, which asks voters to temporarily override the state’s independent congressional districting commission to allow Democrats to flip as many as five House seats.

Gov. Gavin Newsom, a leading advocate of Proposition 50, has said the measure is necessary to respond to redistricting in Texas that could allow Republicans to take up to five House seats.

If approved by voters, the new maps drawn by the California legislature would remain in effect until 2030, at which point control would be returned to the independent commission.

Ballot measures will also be considered in other states as well.

In Maine, voters will consider Maine Question 1, which would require voters to present a valid photo ID to vote.

In Texas, voters will be asked to vote on Proposition 16, which would require that an individual be a citizen to vote.

Voting by illegal immigrants is already outlawed in all 50 states, including by existing Texas statutes, and in federal law.