More than 150 million Americans cast a ballot in last year’s marquee election that put President Donald Trump back in the White House and saw Democrats in Congress suffer serious setbacks.
While 2025 may be more subdued in comparison, the year is not lacking for key races with national significance.
A series of special elections in a handful of states has seen down-on-their-luck Democrats faring well, including flipping state Senate seats in Iowa and Pennsylvania.
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“That ought to energize Democrats that there’s still some life left in the party, despite them being kind of at sea in Washington,” said Barry Burden, a political science professor and director of the Elections Research Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
The outcome has Democrats feeling good, but experts say the real tests are yet to come, starting with a heated Wisconsin state Supreme Court race Tuesday and a pair of special elections for U.S. House seats in northern Florida to fill vacancies created during the Trump transition.
Later this year, voters in Virginia and New Jersey will also be tasked with picking new governors, as the incumbents in both states face term limits.
Here’s what to know about this year’s roundup of key elections.
Next up: Wisconsin and Florida
On Tuesday, Wisconsin voters will go to the polls to decide if Trump-backed judge Brad Schimel or liberal circuit court judge Susan Crawford will fill the vacated seventh seat on the state’s Supreme Court bench.
Dane County Judge and Wisconsin Supreme Court Candidate Susan Crawford, left, Supreme Court candidate and Waukesha County Judge Brad Schimel respond to questions from WISN 12 Political Director Matt Smith during the WISN 12 Commitment 2025 Wisconsin Supreme Court Debate at the Lubar Center at Marquette University Law School’s Eckstein Hall, March 12, 2025 in Milwaukee.
Florida also is host of two big races on Tuesday too: One special election will fill the seat vacated by Matt Gaetz, who resigned in November when Trump nominated him to be attorney general; the winner of the other will be the replacement for Mike Waltz, who left Congress to become Trump’s National Security Advisor.
Both Sunshine State districts favor Republicans, though recent reports show the GOP candidates lagging in fundraising and Democratic leaders are making noise like they could score an upset.
“I think we’re going to over perform expectations,” in Florida, Ken Martin, the chair of the Democratic National Committee, told USA TODAY. “And there’s certainly a chance we could win.”
On Friday, Trump acknowledged Democrats are outspending Republican candidates in Florida by many multiples.
“So the airwaves are blanketed, and you never know what happens in a case like that,” the president told reporters in the Oval Office.
In Wisconsin, the race to determine whether the state’s highest court leans liberal or conservative on issues from abortion to redistricting has become an expensive one.
Elon Musk, billionaire and Trump ally, has put about $20 million toward boosting Schimel. Spending from the two parties combined have already broken records for the country’s most expensive court race and could exceed $100 million.
People attend a campaign event to listen to Democrat-backed Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate Judge Susan Crawford ahead of the April 1 election in Janesville, Wisconsin, U.S. March 24, 2025.
More: Trump, Musk go all in on Wisconsin Supreme Court race, with record-breaking price tag
Musk’s outsized contribution – about 10 times that of Democratic donor George Soros – reflects the importance and expectations of this election, Burden said.
“He has kind of electrified the race and connected it even more than it already was to the Trump administration,” Burden said.
Musk has cited his opposition to “activist judges” as his cause for concern, while his opponents point to a pending lawsuit by his electric vehicle company, Tesla, against the state of Wisconsin.
Mar 22, 2025; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Elon Musk during the Division I Men’s Wrestling Championship held at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-Imagn Images
“But,” Burden told USA TODAY, “I think the more important factors are the symbolic importance of the race – whether it is viewed as essentially ratifying the new conservative agenda in Washington in the key battleground state or whether it’s a rebuke of what’s happening in Washington.”
Democrats eye this week optimistically
If Republicans are hoping to defend their purported mandate, Democrats are looking to score centerstage wins after a rough conclusion to 2024.
More: ‘We’re energized’: Recovering Democrats find hope in special election wins in Pennsylvania
Among the big names orbiting the Wisconsin contest is Tim Walz, the Democratic governor of neighboring Minnesota who has also been touring the country since being on the losing side of the 2024 election as Kamala Harris’ vice presidential running mate.
The 60-year-old Walz has dusted off his campaign shoes to stump for Crawford, a sign of how important Democrats see this race while searching for positive headlines since last November.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz speaks during a town hall at Roosevelt High School on Friday, March 14, 2025, in Des Moines.
Walz, who has left open the door on mounting a 2028 White House campaign, said Wisconsin remains a bellwether for the rest of the country on economic issues and representing middle American values. But he also said it may have become a “laboratory of the worst of what happens” due to special interest money that haspoured into the state’s elections, including judicial contests that are supposed to be nonpartisan.
“This is just stunning to me that a Supreme Court seat will run into close to $100 million,” Walz told USA TODAY.
More: Democrats face new dividing line: Cooperate or resist Trump 2.0?
“And so look, I didn’t want to have to get involved in a Supreme Court seat,” Walz added. “But I was over there advocating that Judge Crawford is for rule of law—not for Democrats, but for rule of law.”
Employees and seasonal workers with the Brevard County Supervisor of Elections Office set up the voting stations at the Scotty Cup Municipal Complex in Satellite Beach for early in-person voting in the Republican special primary elections on April 1.
Governor races heat up in New Jersey and Virginia
Come November, two states will have picked their new governors.
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, and New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat, each face term limits this year, leaving their positions up for grabs.
But first comes the primary elections in June for both states. Virginia Democrat Abigail Spanberger is currently unopposed, and though the state’s Republican Lieutenant Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears has a few GOP challengers, she is largely favored to win this summer.
Mar 12, 2024; Washington, DC, USA; Abigail Spanberger (D-VA) during the House Select Committee on Intelligence holds its 2024 Annual Threat Assessment in Washington.. Mandatory Credit: Jack Gruber-USA TODAY
If Spanberger or Earle-Sears wins the general, the Commonwealth would have its first female governor.
In New Jersey, the primary field is much more crowded for candidates in both parties. On the Democratic side, U.S. Rep. Josh Gottheimer and former Rep. Mikie Sherrill are in the mix. Among Republicans, state Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli and former radio host Bill Spadea lead a pack of contenders.
Virginia’s odd-year campaign has often been referred to as a national bellwether since it’s one of the first elections on the heels of a presidential race. But Burden says that reputation might be outdated.
“I think Virginia probably gets more attention than it deserves,” he said. “It used to be more of a battleground state, so it really was viewed as kind of a signal of the feelings of the country. It’s now become reliably enough blue that it’s meaningful when a Republican like Youngkin wins.”
Virginia lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears speaks during a press conference as the Faith & Politics Institute holds its Congressional Civil Rights Pilgrimage in Selma, Ala., on the 60th Anniversary of Bloody Sunday, Friday March 7, 2024.
New Jersey tends to lean even bluer, though the state did elect Republican Chris Christie as its governor for two terms in back-to-back elections a year after Barack Obama won the White House in both 2008 and 2012.
“State Republicans in Virginia and New Jersey are in a strong position because they have demonstrated their commitment to legislating a positive path forward, while Democrats continue to block progress,” Mason Di Palma, communications director for the Republican State Leadership Committee, said in a statement.
What does this all mean for 2026?
Despite the initial positive outcomes for Democrats in 2025, Burden cautioned that might not directly translate to a successful 2026.
More: ‘We are not defeated’: 5 takeaways on what’s ahead for Democrats in 2025 as Trump returns
In part, he said, it’s because the Democratic base is shifting toward college educated voters who tend to show up more in odd-year elections. An exit poll of voters in 10 keys states by NBC last year found 56% of college graduates voted Democratic; the same percentage of voters without a college degree voted Republican.
A Vote Here sign welcomes voters in the Consolidated Primary Election Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025, at Iglesia Evangélica Christiana in Rockford.
Since being Harris’ running mate, Walz has been touring the country talking to voters about how Democrats can regain a foothold. He said local elections can serve as a reset for the party that is out of power in Washington, but that whatever happens on Tuesday, Democrats still have a larger dilemma of connecting with voters on the national level.
“It’s a different electorate that shows up for midterms and special elections,” Walz said.
“If you’re going to get out on April 1 and cast a vote on a special election for a Supreme Court seat in the state of Wisconsin, you’re paying attention closer,” Walz added. “What we have yet to crack is on these presidential elections, and especially with Trump, there is a whole new electorate out there that’s not hearing that message.”
Martin, elected to lead the DNC last month, said the party is doing what it can now to build infrastructure across states and districts.
(Left) Glendale Mayor Bryan Kennedy takes a selfie with (right) Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin at a canvassing event on Saturday February 22, 2025 in Glendale, Wis.
“Look,” Martin said, “the only thing we can do at this moment as Democrats is, because we don’t have power in Washington right, is to win elections.”
“We’re seeing a lot of energy right now throughout the country,” he added. “Of course if that energy continues through this year and into ’26, that will bode well for Democrats.”
Contributing: Phillip Bailey, USA TODAY
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: What to know about key 2025 elections in Wisc., Fla., Va. and N.J.
