On Tuesday, Americans across the country kept their televisions on and phones open, reloading and watching results from elections from California, to New York City and close to home here in Texas. In contrast to 2024, the Democratic party swept this year’s elections defeating Republicans in multiple landslide victories. Voter turnout across the nation was higher than normal, specifically in New York where the amount of ballots cast in the last mayoral race was doubled to over 2 million for the first time since 1969. In Austin, the controversial Prop Q was not passed while 17 new Texas constitutional amendments were voted in. Despite different types of elections taking place nationwide, a blue Democratic wave rippled across 50 states. 

A race that captured the nation was the election of the next New York City mayor. Zohran Mamdani, a Muslim Democratic socialist assemblyman, was elected with 50.4% of the vote, defeating former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who ran as an Independent after losing to Mamdani in the June primary and only received 41.6% of the vote. Republican Curtis Sliwa came in third with 7.1%. Mamdani made history with his victory, becoming the youngest mayor to run the city since 1892 and the city’s first Muslim mayor. The mayor-elect’s national support and backing emerged from obscurity with help of social media and big-name political endorsements from Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Starting the mayoral race with only 1% support in public polls, Mamdani pulled off a successful campaign backed by a policy agenda of universal childcare, free and fast buses, stabilized rent and a support for the working class. 

Mamdani’s successful election pushes Democratic Socialists under a national spotlight, and although many receive widespread criticism, their political agendas are coming to national attention. McCallum senior Reese Armstrong, an outspoken Democratic Socialist who’s running for Travis County Commissioner, stated that they believe the party is moving towards greater things.

“I think the socialism movement is very strong coming out of last night, it’s definitely been great to see,” Armstrong said. “Democratic Socialists of America hit a high of 80,000 members, and it is the largest socialist organization since the Socialist Party of Eugene Debs in America.”

To Armstrong, it’s clear that the party expanding in New York City is an example of the same expansion of ideals here at home in Austin.

“I think we saw that the New York City DSA and Working Families Party Coalition are the strongest political machines in New York City at this point,” Armstrong said. “They have five assembly members, two city council members, and now the mayoralty. In Austin, we have our own socialist, city council member Mike Siegel, who we worked hard to get elected.”

Although New York City was one of the closest watched elections nationwide, Democrats also swept mayoral elections in prominent cities across the country. In Boston, Mayor Michelle Wu, a Democrat known for her sweeping education reform, was re-elected to office. Mayors Vi Lyles, Aftab Pureval, Andre Dickens and Justin Bibb were all re-elected in Charlotte, Cincinnati, Atlanta and Cleveland, respectively.

Elections in Texas took place, and contrary to national trends, all 17 Texas constitutional amendments were passed, many being supported by Republicans. A majority of the amendments block the creation of certain taxes and allow for new tax exemptions to be passed. Other amendments include the addition of funds allocated to the state technical college, dementia research and water infrastructure. 

Senior JoJo David said that she was perplexed that all 17 amendments put up to a vote were passed due to her belief that the legislation does not match what the state government has shown their intentions to be.

“I was quite shocked that the other 17 propositional amendments were passed,” David said. “Especially considering many of them didn’t even apply to any current legislation that is being practiced and were presented to limit the power of the future legislative body.”

In Austin, the controversial Prop Q was shot down by voters, being declined with 63% of the vote against it. Only 37% of Austinites supported the measure which would raise over $100 million in tax revenue by adding an average of $300 to each homeowner’s property tax. The collected tax revenue would go towards homelessness services and other city projects. 

When Proposition Q wasn’t passed by voters, David wasn’t surprised, but she did think that the taxation involved in the legislation could’ve been approached differently in order to garner more support from a range of Austinites. 

“I believe that Prop Q was not explained in a way that was favorable to its passing,” David said. “Taxes are really important to keep our cities afloat and although property taxes are not necessarily the best way to tax citizens, due to their inability to accurately represent an individual’s wealth and income, they are still very much necessary.”

David proposed an alternative that she said could better meet Austin’s needs.

“It would have been better if an income tax was introduced in lieu of property taxes, especially in a quickly expanding city like Austin,” David said.

Another influential proposition was passed in California. Proposition 50, put on the ballot by Governor Gavin Newsom, moves to redistrict the state to hand Democrats five new Congressional seats for the 2026, 2028 and 2030 election cycles. The proposition comes in response to the redistricting of Texas by Governor Greg Abbott which handed Republicans 5 Congressional seats in hopes to maintain control of the House of Representatives post-2026. 

Although the blue wave didn’t crash into Texas on Tuesday, it peaked in the northeast where female governors were elected in New Jersey and Virginia. Voters in Virginia elected the state’s first female governor, Abigail Spanberger — a former CIA agent and three-term congresswoman from Virginia’s 7th district. Spanberger defeated Republican Winsome Earle-Sears with 57.2% of the vote. In New Jersey, Mikie Sherrill won with 56.2% of the vote against Jake Ciattarelli. The race was closely watched and rumored to be competitive, but Sherrill, a former Navy helicopter pilot and congresswoman, pulled ahead. 

Overall, the Democratic party swept the nation in elections Tuesday night. The party’s success led to many voters expressing their renewed support for the Democrats on social media, with many believing that the party will take their momentum into the midterm elections of 2026, possibly retaking control of the House of Representatives and the Senate. In Texas, 2026 Democratic campaigns for U.S. Senate and the governorship have begun, showing that Democrats are working to gain control across the country and garner similar results as they did on Tuesday night.