Virginia’s race for attorney general was thrown into the spotlight after revelations that Democratic attorney general candidate Jay Jonessent texts in which he fantasized about murdering a fellow lawmaker and their children. Jones is facing off against Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares, who is seeking reelection.
New Jerseyans will also select their next governor between former Republican Rep. Jack Ciatterelli and Democratic Rep. Mikie Sherrill.
New York City will decide its next mayor with three candidates left in the race: Democrat Zohran Mamdani, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo — who is running as an independent — and Republican Curtis Silwa.
8 hours ago
Rep. Valadao tells Newsom to act like “an adult” and govern, not push Proposition 50
FILE - In this Jan. 6, 2015, file photo, U.S. Rep. David Valadao, R-Calif., poses during a ceremonial re-enactment of his swearing-in ceremony. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)
MERCED, California — California Rep. David Valadao (R-CA) has had some close calls in his political career.
Two years ago, he won reelection in a hard-fought race that made him one of two House Republicans who supported the impeachment of President Donald Trump and still kept his seat.
Next year, he could be facing another uphill battle, only this time it would be because California Democrats put their thumb on the scale and redrew his district as part of a scheme to give Democrats the upper hand in the 2026 midterm elections.
Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, the Republican nominee for governor, campaigned in Loudoun County on Saturday. (Samantha-Jo Roth, Washington Examiner)
PURCELLVILLE, VIRGINIA — Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, the Republican nominee for governor, campaigned in Loudoun County on Saturday, rallying supporters at Patrick Henry College in a rare GOP push into one of Virginia’s most closely watched swing counties.
Speaking before a few hundred voters gathered in the college gymnasium, Earle-Sears urged supporters to “finish what we started” and carry the Republican momentum from 2021 into next week’s election.
Once a model of Virginia’s suburban shift leftward, Loudoun is now showing the first hints of movement back, a potential sign that the GOP’s message on parental rights, education, and safety still resonates in northern Virginia’s fast-growing exurbs.
NEWARK, New Jersey — Those thinking former President Barack Obama no longer has electoral influence in New Jersey would find that opinion challenged on Saturday night in Newark.
Long lines wrapped around the venue, hundreds of smiling faces, and the deafening cheers at the mere mention of his name dominated the energy inside the Essex County College gymnasium, where Obama took the stage to rally support for Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ), the Democratic candidate in Tuesday’s gubernatorial race.
He was met by applause, whistles, yells, and excited chants from all corners of the venue. Much to the delight of attendees, he came equipped with his trademark dry humor jokes and a repeated line telling people, “Don’t boo. Go vote.”
NORFOLK, Virginia — Three days before Virginia voters elect a new governor, thousands of excited people, many of them African American, lined up in droves to hear former President Barack Obama rally for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Abigail Spanberger.
Much of Obama’s speech was targeted to black voters, a crucial constituency for Democrats that will help decide if Spanberger ascends to the governor’s mansion.
“The point is there is absolutely no evidence Republican policies made life better for you, the people of Virginia,” Obama said on Saturday at the Ted Constant Convocation Center. “They’ve devoted enormous energy in trying to entrench themselves in power and punishing their enemies, and enriching their friends and silencing their critics.”
NORFOLK, Virginia — Former President Barack Obama lambasted his successor, President Donald Trump, on Saturday as part of his appeal to boost voter support for Abigail Spanberger, the Democratic gubernatorial candidate in Virginia.
“We’ve got a president who thinks it’s OK to use the Justice Department to go after his political opponents,” Obama said at the Ted Constant Convocation Center as the audience jeered.
“Don’t boo, vote,” Obama quipped, referencing his usual get-out-the-vote phrase on the same day that early voting ends in Virginia.
A Collage of Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ) and Jersey City Mayor Jason Fulop (D).
Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop, a Democrat, posted Saturday on X that New Jersey may experience an upset in its gubernatorial election and Republican Jack Ciattarelli could win.
“NJ may actually have an upset. This is prob great news for Jack’s team as we are a society that likes underdogs and comebacks by nature,” Fulop wrote.
Fulop’s post was in response to an AtlasIntel poll that had Democratic candidate Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ) leading by only 0.9 points.
Yolanda Stoner, of Norfolk, Va., wears her Obama blanket as she arrives for a rally for Virginia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Abigail Spanberger during a campaign event with former President Barack Obama, Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025, in Norfolk, Va. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)
Former President Barack Obama has taken the stage at former Rep. Abigail Spanberger‘s Norfolk, Virginia rally. He endorsed the Democratic candidate for governor in a video montage that played before Spanberger came out on stage.
Spanberger is currently leading in the polls against her Republican opponent Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, in a race that has tight in the final stretch after the Democrat refused to call on her Attorney General running mate Jay Jones to drop out of the race after it was revealed that he wished death upon his political opponents and their children via text.
New Jersey gubernatorial candidate Mikie Sherrill arrives to a campaign stop at a train station in Westfield, N.J., Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Rep. Mikie Sherrill’s (D-NJ) campaign is collecting food donations at her Saturday rally featuring former President Barack Obama, as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) funding expired the same day.
“In addition to turning out the vote for New Jersey Democrats, we will be collecting donations for the Community Food Bank of New Jersey as the Trump Administration is letting SNAP funding expire, forcing more families to rely on food banks for food assistance,” Sherrill wrote in a post on X on Friday.
“Please bring canned fish and meat, shelf-stable milk, boxed meals, canned and packaged meals, peanut butter, and canned fruit and vegetables,” she added.
Abigail Spanberger campaigns at a Korean restaurant in Fairfax, VA, before the elections.
Former Virginia Rep. Abigail Spanberger, a Democrat, will compete against Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears (R-VA) for Virginia governor in the Nov. 4 election.
The onetime lawmaker outraised her opponent by more than $3 million in April despite accusations from the lieutenant governor that her alleged knowledge of former President Joe Biden’s cognitive decline is a “national security issue.”
Republican gubernatorial candidate and current Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears speaks during a news conference on the steps of the Virginia Capitol Building, Monday, Oct. 27, 2025, in Richmond, Va. (Mike Kropf/Richmond Times-Dispatch via AP)
Earle-Sears, who serves in her position alongside Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R-VA), is the first black woman to be elected to a Virginia statewide office and the commonwealth’s first female lieutenant governor.
In Democrats’ fight to hold on to their razor-thin 51-49 majority in the state House, the party is running candidates in all 100 districts for the first time in recent history. Republicans are battling to keep rivals from flipping GOP-held seats, particularly in districts former Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris won last year.
Here’s a rundown of the closest races to watch, based on the Virginia Public Access Project’s “VPAP Index,” which classified 10 districts this year as competitive.
Kiley, a former high school English teacher whose district would be carved up under the new map, described the redistricting battles sweeping across the country as “a direct attack on democracy” and said that they set a dangerous precedent, trampling on the will of the people and increasing the risk of election errors.
“For Democrats, it’s all about getting the result they want, which is to take power away from California voters and concentrate it in their own hands,” he told the Washington Examiner. “In order to do that, they have completely thrown out the window all of the established timelines for an election, the established voter protections that we have, and they’re trying to rush this thing through in an unprecedented way, in a way that is bound to lead to errors.”
Democratic candidate for governor of New Jersey Mikie Sherrill responds to questions during the first general election gubernatorial debate with Republican opponent Jack Ciattarelli. Sunday, Sept. 21, 2025, in Lawrenceville, New Jersey. (AP Photo/Noah K. Murray)
Rep. Rebecca Michelle “Mikie” Sherrill (D-NJ) won the Democratic gubernatorial primary in New Jersey on Tuesday, setting her up for a November contest with Republican candidate Jack Ciattarelli.
Sherrill has represented New Jersey’s 11th Congressional District since 2018, but she is looking to replace term-limited Gov. Phil Murphy (D).
Former assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli speaks after the first Republican debate Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2025, at Rider University in Lawrenceville, New Jersey. (AP Photo/Mike Catalini, File)
HASKELL, New Jersey — Former Trump critic Jack Ciattarelli is the Republican nominee for New Jersey governor, winning the GOP primary after receiving the president’s “complete and total endorsement” in the race.
After two unsuccessful gubernatorial runs in 2017 and 2021, Ciattarelli has embraced the “Make America Great Again” agenda while also looking to appeal to a broad spectrum of voters with issues that have previously been successful for Garden State Republicans.
“Three generations of Ciattarellis have lived here in New Jersey, three generations since the time my grandparents arrived from Italy, and all three generations have achieved their American dream, right here in New Jersey,” Ciattarelli told a group of supporters Sunday in Haskell, New Jersey.
Former Democratic Virginia Rep. Abigail Spanberger in Henrico County, Virginia, on Nov. 25, 2024, left, and Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears in Richmond, Virginia, on Jan. 25, 2022. (AP Photo)
Virginia is one of two states, the other being New Jersey, that have marquee gubernatorial races this November and will give some insight into how voters are evaluating President Donald Trump’s second administration.
The commonwealth’s off-year elections have been widely seen as a bellwether for the following year’s midterm elections.
Democrats, led by gubernatorial nominee Abigail Spanberger, are hoping to flip all three statewide races after Republicans surged back into power in 2021, led by Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin. Virginia voters have historically voted for the party out of power in the White House for governor.
