Given the many excesses of Trump 2.0, and the desperate desire of Democrats for signs of a backlash, the results of off-year elections in New Jersey, Virginia, California, Pennsylvania, and New York City would have inevitably been interpreted as in part a referendum on the turbulent first year of the 47th presidency. But Trump has also gone out of his way to make himself an issue on November 4 in various ways.
He has all but become Andrew Cuomo’s most important backer in New York City, and his threats to punish Gotham for the likely election of Zohran Mamdani are overshadowing the entire campaign.
He has directly campaigned for New Jersey Republican gubernatorial candidate Jack Ciattarelli, whose decision to embrace Trump this time around (after keeping his distance four years ago) was a major gamble.
He’s made a lot of noise in opposition California’s Prop 50, which was already being framed by its sponsors as all about retaliating for the president’s gerrymandering power grabs.
And even in a contest where he did not make an endorsement, the Virginia governor’s race, his snub of GOP nominee Winsome Earle-Sears has become a last-minute preoccupation, signaling that Republicans have given up on their candidate.
A Democratic sweep of these races would not just be a setback for Trump’s party; it would also put to rest the claim that 2024 signaled a pro-GOP alignment of the electorate for the foreseeable future.
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