November 3, 2025 08:15:53 AM
November 3, 2025 08:15:53 AM
A year after Donald Trump took back the White House and embarked on a dramatic expansion of executive power, the Republican president has a prominent presence in Tuesday’s state and local elections. The results of these races, the first general elections of President Trump’s second term, will be taken, depending on the winner, as either a major repudiation or a sweeping sign of approval of Trump’s policies in his second term.
Welcome to this week’s AP Ground Game.
Policies change, but facts remain the same. AP provides accurate, fact-based journalism to keep the world informed in every administration. Support independent reporting today. Donate.
New York City mayoral candidate Zoran Mamdani’s video advertising truck is parked next to the New York Islamic Cultural Center on Friday, October 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Election 2025: Highlights on November 4th
In New York City, the nation’s largest metropolis, Tuesday’s mayoral election will include Democratic state representative Zoran Mamdani, independent candidate and former Democratic governor Andrew Cuomo, and Republican Curtis Sliwa. Mr. Mamdani’s comfortable victory over Mr. Cuomo in the New York City primary in June sparked excitement from the party’s progressive wing and anxiety among the establishment, but party leaders ultimately backed the self-described democratic socialist months after he won the nomination.
The winner will replace outgoing Mayor Eric Adams, who initially sought renomination as a Democrat and then chose to run as an independent, but withdrew in September and endorsed Mr. Cuomo. President Trump has said in February that the Justice Department asked a court to drop corruption charges against Adams, but later said he wanted both Adams and Sliwa to resign in order to defeat Mamdani.
The gubernatorial races in Virginia and New Jersey are the only races held in the year after the presidential election, and have long served as the first major test of voters’ feelings about the party in control of the White House. In every gubernatorial election since 1973, one or both states have selected a governor from a party different from the incumbent president. read more.
Note:
California voters will also decide on a statewide ballot measure that would enact a new congressional map that could shift up to five Republican-held U.S. House seats to Democratic control. Proposition 50 is a response to President Trump’s Texas plan that could help Republicans flip five seats held by Democrats, a move that has set off an escalating gerrymandering arms race among states to pass their own new maps.
Note:
Six Head Start programs did not receive their planned grants in October, and 140 programs are currently not receiving the annual infusion of federal funds. Overall, the program has the capacity to support 65,000 preschool children and their expectant parents.
Supreme Court hears case over Trump tariffs
Big questions hang over the high-profile Supreme Court case over President Trump’s sweeping tariffs. Will the conservative majority hold the Republican president to the same strict standards it used to restrict his Democratic predecessor, Joe Biden?
A key legal principle at the heart of conservative challenges to major Biden administration-era policies is driving arguments in the fight against President Trump’s tariffs, scheduled for argument in the high court on Wednesday. Companies and states suing over the tariffs are even naming three conservative judges appointed by President Trump, hoping to garner votes to block the centerpiece of his economic policy in a key test of presidential power.
During President Biden’s term, the conservative majority made it difficult to fight climate change under current law and also blocked several actions related to the coronavirus pandemic. In both cases, the courts found that Congress had not specifically authorized acts of economic or political significance, a legal principle known as the principal question doctrine. read more.
Note:
The Trump administration, citing a lengthy dissenting appellate opinion, argues that this principle does not apply to tariff cases. Justice Richard Tarrant wrote in a dissenting opinion joined by three other justices that the president has wide discretion when it comes to foreign affairs and national security, and it would be strange for the emergency powers law to be as limited as the challengers say.
