As the election of several progressive urban socialist candidates dominated the headlines, the real story of the 2025 election is the significant mandates won by moderate Democrats around the country. Across the river in New Jersey, U.S. Representative Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ), will become the first female military veteran to serve as governor in American history. Sherrill is best known for flipping a U.S. House seat that had been controlled by Republicans for nearly a century in 2018. Her election also course-corrected for Democratic state and local candidate losses in 2024, as she won her election by a hefty double-digit margin. Sherrill’s long coattails resulted in New Jersey Democrats flipping five counties across the state that had voted for Donald Trump in the previous election.
In Virginia, former CIA agent and U.S. Representative Abigail Spanberger will be sworn in to become that state’s first female governor in history. Spanberger won her race by 15 points over Lieutenant Governor Winsome Sears, winning 57% of the vote. Spanberger, a moderate with similar positions to Sherrill, will only serve one term, as Virginia has restrictive term limits.
In Miami, Democrat Eileen Higgins is projected to win against her Republican opponent, Emilio Gonzalez in the runoff mayoral election on December 10. In Minneapolis, Jacob Frey won re-election to a third term for mayor against a challenger from the left, DSA-affiliated Minnesota State Senator Omar Fateh.
While the media fixated on overextrapolating Zohran Mamdani’s narrow win in New York City, the victories of these moderate Democrats across the country demonstrate the potential to run and win from the center in less heavily blue areas.
