Democrats score major victories in today’s elections. I feel great!

Turning on the television to watch election returns tonight, I had a bit of PTSD, since the last time I did that in November 2024, Trump beat Harris and I was hugely depressed.

But things turned out perfectly for Democrats this time. I couldn’t have asked for a better mood elevator. A CNBC headline sums the evening up.

A Politico sidebar conveyed the good news. Democrats kicked butt in every important race. Also, in less important races, given what I heard reported about other election results.

Somewhat strangely, the race I was most interested in, because it was one Republicans hoped to win, was the content for Virginia Attorney General. Jay Jones, the Democratic candidate, came in for a lot of grief after 2022 text messages surfaced where Jones said, among other things, that “Gilbert gets two bullets to the head” — a reference to then-Virginia GOP House Speaker Todd Gilbert.

Jones won, though, which is great. The way I see it, Trump has said way worse and he’s now president of the United States. Jones apologized, which Trump never does, so I’m glad Virginia voters realized that Jones was the better candidate and rewarded him with a victory.

This New York Times headline also was music to my progressive ears. I expected that Zohran Mamdani would win, especially after Trump endorsed Cuomo, a Democrat who ran as an Independent after Mamdani won the Democratic primary for New York mayor. That endorsement probably helped Mamdani, given how unpopular Trump is in New York City (as well as the country as a whole).

I watched Mamdani’s victory speech. It was masterful. Inspiring, eloquent, energetic. There wasn’t anything in it that sounded “communist” to me — that’s how Trump describes Mamdani — or even socialist. Unless universal child care is socialist. If it is, that helps explain why being a Democratic Socialist is appealing to so many people, especially young people.

Republicans are hoping that Mamdani will become the figurehead of the Democratic Party. That isn’t going to happen, because the Democratic Party is a big tent with diverse  members. But from what I saw tonight, Democrats would be well served if Mamdani achieves a national stature. His populism speaks to lots of people disaffected with modern politics.

As expected, Californians overwhelmingly approved Prop. 50, which likely gives Democrats five additional seats in the state’s House of Representatives delegation. That compensates for the five seats Republicans gerrrymandered in Texas in a desperate attempt to stop Democrats from taking back the House in the 2026 midterms.

Mikie Sherrill, a Democrat, easily won the New Jersey governor race by 13 points over her Republican challenger, Ciattarelli. Since Trump lost New Jersey by only six points in 2024, Republicans hoped that he could pull out a win. But Sherrill’s victory shows that Republicans are down 7 points from 2024 (13 minus six) in New Jersey currently, which doesn’t bode well for GOP House members up for reelection in districts where Trump won by less than ten points.

In Virginia, Abigail Spanberger became the state’s first female governor. She’s leading her Republican opponent by 15 points, which is huge. And Democrats appear to have gained 13 seats in the state’s House, giving them 64 seats, up from 51 previously.

So it was a great night for Democrats everywhere. This gives the party a much-needed boost in preparation for the 2026 midterm election. And it sure raised the spirits of countless Democrats, including me.