Candidates for governor in New Jersey and Virginia, and for mayor of New York City, are racing to the finish line Nov. 4 to see who wins off-year elections that are considered a signal for how 2026 campaigns will go.
In California, voters will help determine if Democrats or Republicans win the U.S. House in next year’s midterms and who hold power during President Donald Trump’s last two years.
Election Day 2025 is nearly here, with Trump on Monday night scheduled to phone into rallies of voters in the two gubernatorial contests that will test his influence nine months into his second term.
Virginia will get its first female governor no matter who wins in the contest between Democratic former Rep. Abigail Spanberger and Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears.
The New Jersey race pits Democratic Rep. Mikie Sherrill against Republican businessman and former state lawmaker Jack Ciattarelli.
Zohran Mamdani, the front-runner in polling to become mayor of New York City, laughed off Trump’s criticism while stumping for votes. Mamdani is campaigning against Andrew Cuomo, the Democratic former governor, and Curtis Sliwa, the Republican founder of the anti-crime group Guardian Angels.
Here are updates on last-minute campaigning before the Nov. 4 election:
A poll worker looks over a mail-in ballot on the campus of California State University San Bernardino in Palm Desert, Calif., on Nov. 5, 2024.
New York City votes early in record numbers
New Yorkers have voted early in record numbers in the general election to decide their next mayor.
Final New York City Board of Elections tallies show over 735,000 check-ins in the early voting period from Oct. 25 to Nov. 2. In 2021, the last time the city elected its mayor, over 169,000 people cast their ballots during early voting, four times less than in 2025.
Sunday, Nov. 2 − the last day to vote early before the Nov. 4 election − marked the highest early voting day in New York City history, elections officials announced in a Nov. 3 news release.
Polls have tightened in the mayor’s race between Mamdani, the frontrunner who’s led by double digits, and Cuomo, running as an independent. Sliwa, founder of the Guardian Angels anti-crime vigilante group, trails in third. The winner replaces embattled Mayor Eric Adams, a moderate Democrat, to lead the heavily Democratic city.
– Eduardo Cuevas
Elon Musk urges NYC voters to back Cuomo
Tesla CEO Elon Musk, a former adviser to Trump, urged New York voters to cast their ballots for the state’s former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who is running as an independent in the city’s mayoral race.
Musk took a swipe at the Democratic frontrunner Zohran Mamdani in his post endorsing Cuomo over the Republican candidate, Curtis Sliwa.
“Remember to vote tomorrow in New York!” Musk wrote in a post on X. “Bear in mind that a vote for Curtis is really a vote for Mumdumi or whatever his name is. VOTE CUOMO!”
Musk, a Texas resident who previously lived in California, is no stranger to weighing into political elections.
He endorsed Trump in the 2024 presidential election, often joining the then-Republican candidate on the campaign trail before briefly becoming an adviser to the president after he won the election. Musk also poured in at least $20 million on a high-stakes Wisconsin court race that saw his choice judge, conservative Brad Schimel, lose against liberal Susan Crawford.
– Rebecca Morin
Who has the momentum? The 2025 election could say a lot about political climate
The first big round of voting since Trump was elected last year could help answer some questions about the current political climate, including which party has the momentum and whether Democrats have an effective message for taking on the president.
The off-year races in New Jersey, Virginia, California, New York City and elsewhere are seen as key early barometers of how voters are feeling about Trump and the Democratic Party as it fights his aggressive agenda. The president has loomed large over the contests, featuring in ads and as a frequent topic in debates.
Virginia, which has been heavily impacted by cuts to the federal workforce, could be a test of how Trump’s policies are being received, and whether voters believe he has overreached in his second term. California could check Trump’s redistricting power plays in other states.
The elections are a precursor to more consequential midterm contests next year, when control of Congress – and with it the fate of Trump’s legislative agenda – will be decided. The results on Nov. 4 will be highly scrutinized to see which party has the upper hand heading into next November’s midterms.
– Zac Anderson
Newsom campaigns for Prop 50: ‘We’re going to get out there and win’
California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday said his state is going to send a “powerful message” in Tuesday’s election by approving a ballot initiative that would radically change how his state’s congressional boundaries are drawn.
At a campaign rally in San Francisco just one day before voters hit the polls, Newsom said Trump turned to states to address redistricting due to the president’s approval rating.
“Donald Trump one-upped himself: Historic president. Historically unpopular president. The most unpopular since his first term,” Newsom said. “He knows he’s going to lose the midterm election. Period. Full stop.”
Several GOP-led states, such as Texas and Indiana, are trying to redraw their congressional maps with Trump’s urging ahead of the 2026 midterms.
Newsom said that Trump and his allies didn’t expect for states, like California, to counter their redistricting plans.
“They did not expect California. They did not expect all of you. They thought we were going to write an op-ed, have a candle light vigil, maybe do a rally,” he said. “They poked the bear and the bear is poking back. We’re going to get out there and win and send a powerful message not only to the people of the state of California but the people all over the United States of America.”
– Rebecca Morin
What time do polls open on Election Day?
It’s not a presidential election, but millions of Americans will head to the polls to vote in state and local elections on Tuesday, Nov. 4.
Do you know what time your local polling place opens?
If you plan to vote or drop off your ballot in person, you need to know where your polling precinct is and when it opens. This information depends on which state you live in, and sometimes even on your county or municipality.
Most states open their polls at 7 a.m. local time. Others start voting as early as 5 a.m. or as late as 10 a.m.
See when polling opens for your state.
– Natalie Neysa Alund and Gabe Hauari
‘SNL’ takes on NYC mayoral debate
Days before New York City’s mayoral election, “Saturday Night Live” weighed in.
In its Saturday cold open, the sketch show parodied the final New York City mayoral debate, with Miles Teller as Andrew Cuomo, Ramy Youssef as Zohran Mamdani and Shane Gillis as Curtis Sliwa.
“I know this city like the back of a woman’s back,” Teller said as Cuomo, the former governor of New York who resigned in 2021 amid a sexual harassment scandal. He was elected as a Democrat but is running for mayor as an independent after losing the party’s mayoral primary to Mamdani.
As Democratic nominee Mamdani, Youssef told voters he wanted to deliver free health care and Wi-Fi and affordable housing.
“As mayor, can I make that happen? I’m not sure yet,” he said. “But together, we’re going to find out − that the answer is no.”
The popular sketch comedy show has not shied away from parodying the Trump administration, with cast member James Austin Johnson often portraying the president. In Saturday’s sketch, Johnson’s Trump interrupted the mayoral debate to promise the candidates that he’s “going to be very involved” in New York politics.
– Brendan Morrow
Obama says ‘it’s worse than I expected’ at stumps for Dem gubernatorial candidates
Former U.S. President Barack Obama hugs Virginia Democratic gubernatorial candidate, former Rep. Abigail Spanberger while arriving on stage at a campaign rally in the Chartway Arena on Nov. 01, 2025 in Norfolk, Virginia.
Former President Barack Obama didn’t mince words about what he thought about the first 10 months of President Donald Trump’s second administration during weekend stumps for Democratic gubernatorial candidates Abigail Spanberger and Mikie Sherrill in Virginia and New Jersey.
While praising Spanberger’s run and her prior experience in law enforcement and the CIA in Norfolk, Virginia, on Saturday, Obama also said the US is “in a pretty dark place.”
“It’s hard to know where to start, because every day this White House offers up a fresh batch of lawlessness and recklessness and mean-spiritedness and just plain craziness,” said Obama to cheers and boos. “I mean, it’s like every day is Halloween. Except it’s all tricks and no treats.”
Obama then ran through a litany of what he said Trump has done since taking office, including turning the justice department against his political opponents, replacing career prosecutors with loyalists, and firing decorated officers because they might be more loyal to the Constitution than to him and deploying the National Guard to mostly Democratic-led cities to stop crime waves that don’t exist.
“It’s not as if we didn’t see some of this coming,” Obama told the crowd somewhat sarcastically. “I will admit it’s worse than even I expected…But, I did warn y’all! I did!”
Former President Barack Obama delivers a speech of support during voter rally for Democratic candidate for governor, Mikie Sherrill, right, at Essex County College in Newark on Nov. 1, 2025.
Hours later, Obama gave a similar message during Sherrill’s get-out-the-vote rally in Newark. He said voting for Sherrill will not only put New Jersey on a path to a brighter future but also set “a glorious example” for the nation.
When Obama ran through the “recklessness and mean-spiritedness” about the Trump administration in his Newark speech, there was a cascade of boos. The former president countered. “Don’t boo,” Obama said. “Vote!”
– Terry Collins
Supporters of California ballot measure dominate ad spending
Proponents of California’s Proposition 50 redistricting ballot measure backed by Gov. Gavin Newsom have far outspent opponents on political ads as campaigning around the initiative wraps up.
More than $129 million has been spent on the Proposition 50 campaign, and 72% of that went towards ads supporting the initiative, according to ad tracking firm AdImpact.
Newsom is pushing an effort to temporarily bypass the state’s independent redistricting commission and redraw California’s U.S. House map to create more Democratic-leaning seats,a response to Trump pushing for more GOP-leaning House seats in Texas and other red states.
– Zac Anderson
Ciattarelli gets a November surprise visit from son
Jack Ciattarelli, New Jersey’s Republican nominee for governor, got an October surprise on Monday from his “biggest supporter” while campaigning at Murph’s Saloon in Totowa.
The candidate’s son, Army Capt. Jake Ciattarelli, returned home from his assignment in Kuwait.
The elder Ciattarelli slapped his forward with his right hand as his son, dressed in camouflage fatigues, approached for a hug. The crowd chanted “USA, USA.”
“Wow!” the elder Ciattarelli said. “What he probably forgot to do because he’s been so busy defending our nation, he probably forgot to get in his vote-by-mail ballot. He’s here to vote.”
– Bart Jansen
DNC head cautiously optimistic about Tuesday’s elections
Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chair Ken Martin speaks on stage during a campaign rally for Democratic candidate for New Jersey governor Mikie Sherrill, in Newark, New Jersey, on Nov. 1, 2025.
Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin expressed cautious optimism about his party’s chances of winning critical governor races in Virginia and New Jersey on Tuesday, despite tightening polls.
A survey published Saturday showed Democrat Mikie Sherrill and Republican Jack Ciattarelli in a dead heat in their race for New Jersey’s governor’s mansion. But Martin said he’s confident about Sherrill’s momentum in the race coming off a whirlwind weekend campaigning with Democratic heavyweights, including former President Barack Obama.
“We’ve always expected the race to be close,” he said. “But everything that I’ve seen I was on the ground there for the last three days shows record enthusiasm and excitement.”
Wins on Tuesday, Martin said, will “signify that this notion that the Democratic Party is dead and can’t be resuscitated is deeply exaggerated.”
– Karissa Waddick
Mamdani, Cuomo campaign across NYC — from nosebleeds to court side
Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee for New York City mayor, sat in nosebleed seats at Sunday’s Knicks home game win at Madison Square Garden. Over a week ago, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, running as an independent, left the last mayoral debate to sit court side at the Knicks’ home opener with Mayor Eric Adams, who later endorsed Cuomo. The Knicks also won that time.
The candidates for mayor of the nation’s largest city are campaigning across the boroughs a day before Tuesday’s general election.
In the city that doesn’t sleep, Mamdani, the 34-year-old frontrunner, ate biryani with taxi drivers in Queens’ ever-diverse Jackson Heights neighborhood after midnight. He’s gone to Brooklyn clubs and bars before heading to the Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network in Harlem on Sunday morning. At sunrise on Monday, after the Knicks game, Mamdani marched with supporters across the Brooklyn Bridge to City Hall, in what he said signaled a new day.
Former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, independent candidate for New York City mayor, makes a campaign stop in the Washington Heights neighborhood in the Manhattan borough of New York City on Nov. 3, 2025.
Cuomo has also made his way around at different hours. On Friday, he visited a cafe in Russian-speaking Brooklyn with a Republican councilwoman who endorsed him over GOP nominee Curtis Sliwa. The next day, Cuomo met with voters in majority-Black neighborhoods in Brooklyn. On Sunday, Cuomo visited Black churches in the Bronx. On Monday, Cuomo’s public schedule indicated he’d be on a tour across all five boroughs to get out the vote, including in heavily Latino areas of the Bronx and Manhattan’s Washington Heights.
Early voting tallies already indicate a historic turnout in an off-year election.
– Eduardo Cuevas
Trump approval rating dips, new poll shows
Trump’s approval rating dropped to one the lowest levels seen during his second term in a new poll from CNN/SSRS.
In the survey released Monday, the president had a 37% approval rating. It’s the lowest rating of his second term seen in CNN polling and stands just one point higher than the 36% approval rating Trump had at this point in his first presidential term.
The president’s 63% disapproval rating in the poll is also a noteworthy change to numbers stretching back to January 2025. It’s numerically the highest disapproval of either term throughout CNN polling, standing one point above Trump’s previous all-time high of 62% when he was leaving office in January 2021.
The dismal numbers come as the country hurtles toward day 35 of the ongoing government shutdown on Tuesday, which would tie with the longest-ever shutdown during Trump’s first term in 2019, and on the eve of an off-year election many are watching as a potential referendum on the Republican party.
– Kathryn Palmer
Johnson hopes Democrats vote to end shutdown after election
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson speaks during a press conference on Capitol Hill on Nov. 3, 2025 in Washington, DC.
House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters that he hopes getting past the election Nov. 4 will allow most Democrats to vote with Republicans to reopen the government.
House Republicans approved short-funding bill to keep the government open through Nov. 21. But most Senate Democrats blocked the measure while arguing for greater spending on health care.
“I hope the election tomorrow is a change, a sea change in all this,” Johnson said Monday. “I hope that after everybody votes and they go in their room and they make the calculation that, ‘Well, maybe we won’t have to hold that line any more. Maybe they won’t punish us. Maybe it won’t affect turnout in our states in these elections.’”
– Bart Jansen
Earle-Sears urges end to Virginia car tax
Virginia’s GOP Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears promoted public safety and lower taxes in her final messages of the campaign for governor, urging an end to the state’s car tax.
“There is not a single Virginian who likes the car tax,” she said in a social media post on Monday with a clip from her debate with Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger. “It’s time we end it once and for all.”
Spanberger has also said she would end the car tax. But Earle-Sears said Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin included the proposal in his budget and state Democratic lawmakers removed it.
– Bart Jansen
Spanberger focuses on abortion in Virginia
Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger focused on abortion and argued “reproductive freedom” is on the ballot in Virginia’s gubernatorial race against GOP Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears.
“My opponent wants to ban abortion with no exceptions for rape or incest,” Spanberger said in a social media post on Monday. “Virginia – know that I will always protect a woman’s right to choose.”
– Bart Jansen
Ciattarelli promotes Kean’s support in NJ
New Jersey Republican gubernatorial candidate Jack Ciattarelli speaks to his supporters in a parking lot off Route 35 in Hazlet on Sunday, November 2, 2025, during a rally two days before the election.
New Jersey’s Republican nominee for governor, Jack Ciattarelli, posted a video endorsement by former Gov. Tom Kean, who said he is “compassionate, he is decent and he works hard.”
“This year is different,” Kean said in the video posted Nov. 3, after being out of partisan politics for years. “New Jersey needs a change and it needs a change badly.”
– Bart Jansen
Trump to rally supporters in Virginia, New Jersey by phone
Trump plans to hold tele-rallies Nov. 3 for the gubernatorial candidates.
He is scheduled to call Virginia supporters at 7 p.m. ET from the Oval Office. He is then set to call New Jersey supporters at 7:30 p.m.
From left, Virginia Republican candidate for lieutenant governor John Reid, Republican gubernatorial candidate Winsome Earle-Sears, Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares and Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin stand onstage at the end of a campaign rally on Nov. 2, 2025 in Hanover, Virginia.
Trump said in a post on truth social on Sunday that voting for Republicans in either of the seats would lead to a drop in energy prices. He has promoted oil and gas development, in contrast to many Democrats promoting renewable fuels to curb climate change.
Mikie Sherrill, Democratic candidate for governor, holds hands with a supporter during a voter rally at Essex County College in Newark on Nov. 1, 2025.
Mamdani laughs off Trump comments
Zohran Mamdani, the front-runner for New York mayor, laughed when asked what he thought of Trump saying he was the better looking of the two.
“My focus is on the cost of living crisis, bro,” Mamdani told reporters.
Democratic candidate for New York City mayor, Zohran Mamdani, greets supporters during a campaign event on the final weekend before the 2025 New York City mayoral Election in the Queens borough of New York City, on Nov. 1, 2025.
Mamdani is campaigning as a democratic socialist. But Trump has blasted him as a communist and warned he wouldn’t support federal funding for New York if Mamdani wins.
During “60 Minutes” interview broadcast on Sunday, Norah O’Donnell asked for Trump’s reaction to comparisons that both politicians are charismatic and break rules.
“Well, I think I’m a much better looking person than him,” Trump said.
Former New York Governor and independent candidate for New York City Mayor, Andrew Cuomo delivers a speech at Union Grove Baptist Church while campaigning in the Bronx borough of New York City, on Nov. 2, 2025.
Mamdani walks across Brooklyn Bridge for Manhattan rally
Mamdani walked across the Brooklyn Bridge early Monday with state Attorney General Letitia James and others before holding a news conference outside City Hall in Manhattan.
Californians to vote on congressional redistricting
California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks during a rally in support of a “Yes” vote on Proposition 50, a congressional redistricting measure in the November 4 special election, at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles, California, on Nov. 1, 2025.
Californians will be voting on a ballot measure to redraw congressional maps for the 2026 midterm election.
Gov. Gavin Newsom pursued the changes with a goal of flipping five Republican seats to Democrats, to combat redistricting in Texas that favored Republicans in five seats now held by Democrats.
Redistricting occurs every decade based on the Census but Trump has encouraged Republican-led states to redraw their maps to keep control of the House, where Republicans lead 219 to 213.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 2025 election latest: Record early votes in NYC, VA, NJ race to Nov. 4
