Rebounding from their election defeat last year, Democrats are reveling in their 2025 election victories in both big and small races nationwide.
The Democratic Party’s wins across the board in Virginia, New Jersey, and New York City have attracted much attention as those elections carried the highest stakes this year, but there are lesser-known races that have proved just as crucial.
Democrats flip seats in Mississippi legislature
The Mississippi Senate lost its GOP supermajority on Tuesday for the first time since 2011 after Democrats gained two additional seats, bumping down Republicans from 36 to 34 seats. Thirty-five seats constitute a supermajority.
The supermajority status means a party can more easily override a veto from Gov. Tate Reeves (R-MS) and propose constitutional amendments, among other actions.
“History made. Mississippi just broke the supermajority—and the people have taken back their power,” the Mississippi Democratic Party posted on X Wednesday morning in celebration of its victory. “From the Delta to the Pine Belt, voters stood up for better schools, fairer representation, and expanded healthcare. This is what people power looks like.”
One seat in the Mississippi House was also flipped blue.
The state’s special legislative elections were the result of court-ordered redistricting. Earlier this year, a federal court ruled that Mississippi must create more black-majority legislative districts. The state legislature passed a new legislative map in response to that order.
Democrats win Georgia commissioner races
The Georgia Public Service Commission’s races were also noteworthy for Democrats, who wish to take that momentum into the state’s open gubernatorial election next year.
The Democratic Governors Association touted the victories of its party’s challengers, Alicia Johnson and Peter Hubbard, both of whom ran against Republican incumbents. The races marked the first time Democrats have won a non-federal statewide race in Georgia since 2006, according to the DGA.
“Yesterday’s PSC results make clear that Georgia’s gubernatorial race is a top flip opportunity for Democrats. Georgians are ready for change and Democrats have the clear momentum heading into next year’s gubernatorial race,” DGA spokesman Kevin Donohoe said in a statement.
The organization, which Gov. Laura Kelly (D-KS) will lead until the end of the year, stressed that the Democratic Party’s strength heading into the 2026 gubernatorial election is its focus on affordability.
“Yesterday’s results are a canary in the coal mine for Burt Jones, Chris Carr, and Brad Raffensperger,” Donohoe added. “Georgians have made clear that they want leaders who will fight for them — not politicians who are just a rubber stamp for an unpopular agenda that jacks up costs on working families.”
Among the top Democratic candidates running for governor of Georgia next year are former Republican Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, and former DeKalb County CEO Michael Thurmond.
Pennsylvania voters retain state justices
Three Pennsylvania Supreme Court justices, all of whom are Democrats, won their retention elections unopposed. The results leave the Democrats’ 5-2 majority on the state’s high court intact.
Justices Christine Donohue, Kevin Dougherty, and David Wecht each survived simple yes-or-no votes to keep their seats on the bench. Dougherty and Wecht will serve another 10 years, while Donohue will leave in 2027 when she must retire by age 75. Donohue is currently 72 years old.
Prominent Democrats, including Gov. Josh Shapiro (D-PA) and former President Barack Obama, backed the incumbent justices.
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump urged Pennsylvania residents to vote no on the “Radical Democrat” justices.
“These activist Judges unlawfully gerrymandered your Congressional maps, which led to my corrupt Impeachment(s), and locked you up during COVID by closing your small businesses, schools, and churches,” Trump posted on Truth Social Sunday night. “They let sex offenders out of prison, and ruled for Sleepy Joe Biden over and over, and interfered in the 2020 Election. It is time for Justice.”
New Jersey General Assembly maintains Democratic majority
Democrats maintained their control of the New Jersey General Assembly, securing over 50% of all 80 seats up for election this year. By the end of Tuesday, 49 seats were called for Democrats and 19 seats for Republicans.
Going into the election, Democrats had a 52-28 majority against Republicans.
New Jersey will remain one of 16 Democrat-controlled trifectas in the nation based on the outcome of the legislative and gubernatorial races. The latter saw Democratic nominee Mikie Sherrill beat Republican nominee Jack Ciattarelli by double digits.
Sherill will replace Gov. Phil Murphy (D-NJ) once his second term expires in January.
Another state that held legislative elections for all seats in its lower chamber was Virginia, where Democrats expanded their majority in the House of Delegates to at least 61 seats.
Local races in New Hampshire mostly secured by Democrats
New Hampshire was one state in which Democrats gained significant ground at the local level.
The incoming mayor of Rochester will be Democratic State Rep. Chuck Grassie, whose win represented an eight-point shift from Trump’s 2024 victory. Furthermore, all Democratic incumbents retained their posts as mayors statewide.
In Manchester, Democrats swept all 14 school board seats and retook control of the city’s board of aldermen from a Republican incumbent. A similar trend played out in Nashua’s school board and aldermen elections.
Republicans had some wins in the state though, with the Republican mayor of Manchester holding off the Democratic challenger and the Republican candidate for mayor of Laconia narrowly winning.
Republican incumbents ousted in municipal Pennsylvania races
Some of the more obscure races that saw Democrats win were for the Bucks County sheriff’s office and the Beaver Borough mayor’s office.
In Bucks County, Republican incumbent Fred Harran was ousted by Democratic nominee Daniel Ceisler, who ended the race with a 10-point lead. Ceisler ran on ending the county’s agreement with Immigration and Customs Enforcement to enforce federal immigration laws. The agreement was signed by Harran earlier this year as part of the agency’s 287(g) program.
“ICE was the big issue in this race, and voters overwhelmingly voted … to elect the candidate who wanted to end the ICE partnership,” Ceisler told a local news outlet. “And that does send a message to law enforcement all over the country that partnering with ICE is a losing proposition.”
2025 ELECTION TAKEAWAYS: REPUBLICANS LOST AND THEY KNOW IT
In Beaver, Republican incumbent Tom Hamilton narrowly lost his mayoral post to Democratic challenger Lincoln Kretchmar.
The results were significant because Hamilton’s Republican predecessor, Robert Linn, served as the mayor of Beaver for 58 years. The borough also backed almost every Republican presidential candidate in the 20th and 21st centuries, including Trump during his three White House runs in the past decade.