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It may have appeared an extraordinary night for Democrats as they won a clean sweep of the major offices up for grabs - two state governorships and the jewel in the crown, the mayoralty of New York City. Jubilant left-wingers declared the party was now over the disaster of 2024 when they were trounced by Donald Trump and lost both chambers of Congress. They claimed the results would be a launchpad for surging to victory in the midterm elections next year, and that they represented a referendum on the first 10 months of President Trump's administration. However, the night also lit the fuse on a potentially devastating civil war for the heart of the Democratic Party. Both a radical far-left candidate, Zohran Mamdani in New York, and a pragmatic centrist Abigail Spanberger in Virginia, stormed to victory. That threatens to tear the party apart as other candidates decide which path to follow - the intransigent democratic socialism of Mamdani, or the hardheaded realism of Spanberger. Meanwhile, on the Republican side candidates found that aligning themselves with Trump was not enough to get their voters to the polls in large numbers if the president himself was not on the ballot. Trump did not campaign and the impact of his absence was clear. It was a warning for Republicans that Trumpism without Trump may not be enough. Those close to the White House denied alarm bells were going off. They suggested the results were not a general repudiation of Trump or his policies, but instead had been spurred by local factors including an overwhelmingly left-wing electorate in New York, and a weak Republican candidate in Virginia. They also blamed the ongoing government shutdown, particularly for the result in Virginia where many federal workers live. In New York, Mamdani, 34, successfully exploited the anger of Gen Z voters at spiraling costs in one of the most expensive cities on Earth, luring them with promises of cheaper housing and a turbocharged minimum wage of $30 an hour. His other electoral carrots included a freeze on rent hikes, free bus services, fully-funded day care for under-5s, and city-owned grocery food stores. He pledged to fund those policies, which will cost billions of dollars, by raising taxes on the rich. Critics say it will lead to a surge of companies and high-earning individuals fleeing New York City, which will in turn decimate the city's tax revenue and cause poverty, crime and urban decay. Mamdani's ally, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, declared the result meant victory in a 'two-front war' - not just against Republicans, but also her own party's 'old guard.' It was a signal that the progressive wing will use Mamdani's win in an attempt to further hijack the national Democratic Party. He and his far-left policies are the future, they will say. Republicans would be delighted to see Democrats run on an agenda similar to Mamdani's elsewhere in the country. They feel confident his appeal ends at the limits of New York City, and that his policies would lead the Democrats into political oblivion. Following his victory, President Trump - who has called Mamdani a communist - wrote cryptically on Truth Social: '...AND SO IT BEGINS!' Given the unique electorate in New York, Virginia was perhaps a better barometer of Democrats' chances of surging back to popularity nationally, and the initial signs were that Republicans have much to worry about. In a race some had predicted would be close, it took less than an hour after polls closed for TV networks to declare Spanberger the victor. Her campaign gave moderate Democrat strategists what they believe would be a successful playbook for beating Trump-backed Republicans in the midterm elections in 2026. She relentlessly blamed Republicans for not tackling the affordability crisis and getting housing and grocery costs under control, along with emphasizing public safety and health care. Spanberger, 46, also repeatedly distanced herself from some of the Democratic Party's far-left policies. In her victory speech she said what mattered most was 'lowering costs' and that her win was one for 'pragmatism.' In addition to winning among voters hit by the affordability crisis she also took Loudoun County, the wealthiest county in America, by 30 points, which was a 12-point swing from Trump's result there in 2024. That represented valuable ammunition for the growing number of Democratic leaders determined to ostracize Mamdani . Further fuel was provided in New Jersey where the moderate Democrat Mikie Sherrill, 53, also won by appealing to independent voters. She focused on the cost of groceries, energy and health care, and downplayed support for progressive priorities including LGBTQ rights. Both the successful Democrat candidates for state governorships also had backgrounds that appealed to the middle. Spanberger is a former CIA case officer who spent years working undercover, and Sherrill was a Navy helicopter pilot. The successful economic argument they ran on was similar to the one Trump used in 2024, when he blamed Joe Biden for inflation. Polls showed about half of voters in Virginia said the economy was the most important issue in the state. Trump did not campaign in Virginia or New Jersey, and that could have weakened Republican turnout. But some Republicans were quick to turn on Winsome Earle-Sears, the party's candidate in Virginia. 'A Bad candidate and Bad campaign have consequences - the Virginia Governors race is example number 1,' said former Trump adviser Chris LaCivita. Republicans also pointed to the 100,000 government workers living in Virginia, many of whom live in Fairfax County, the largest county in the state, which is a suburb of Washington D.C. Many of those federal workers are currently not being paid due to the government shutdown, and others were axed by Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Their support for Spanberger at the ballot box was dubbed 'Revenge of the Feds.' During her campaign Spanberger, herself a former federal employee, cited the 'recklessness and the heartlessness coming out of Washington,' and she won Fairfax County by nearly 50 points. Regardless of the mitigation being offered for the results by Republicans, Democrats are now on a roll. But it remains to be seen whether they pick the radical path of Mamdani, the moderate route represented by Spanberger, or if they descend into a new and nasty internal fight.
