FREDERICKSBURG, Va. (AP) — Virginia Democrat Nicole Cole and her team spent much of their 2025 legislative campaign in spots like Wythe Market in Spotsylvania County, slamming prices she claims are too high, including at least $3.79 for 12 eggs, up to $7.99 for a pound of ground beef and $9.39 for coffee beans.
Her efforts paid off by ousting the Republican from his state House seat after 36 years. She was one of 13 Virginia Democrats who flipped competitive House seats and won big elections in Virginia and New Jersey, the only gubernatorial races this year.
“We greet them at the time of purchase,” Cole said. “That’s when it hurts the most.”
The cost of living may be sending a signal to voters that this is President Donald Trump’s economy. Some prices are stable or falling, and costs tend to be higher in New Jersey than in Virginia. However, due to economic concerns, Supported the return of the Trump administration in 2024The two gubernatorial races, the first major elections after Republicans took control of the White House and Congress, appear to be weighing on Republicans, according to an Associated Press voter poll.
Democrats Abigail Spanberger and Mikie Sherrill, who won those races in Virginia and New Jersey, respectively, campaigned passionately on economic issues and led their party to landslide victories in both states.
The fluctuations were especially dramatic in suburban and suburban areas like Spotsylvania and Morris County, New Jersey. Morris County is part of a traditionally Republican state legislative district, where liberal Democrat Marisa Sweeney and one of the two incumbent Republicans are so close in the vote that the Associated Press considers the two-win race too close.
“Going to the grocery store and checking the prices just doesn’t work,” Sweeney said.
bill payment
Over the past decade, areas like Morris and Spotsylvania counties have become increasingly competitive, and midterm elections often determine wins and losses in areas beyond metropolitan areas. Morris County is approximately 30 miles west of New York City. Spotsylvania County is located just south of Fredericksburg. Roughly two-thirds of residents in each are white, slightly wealthier than the national average, and a higher percentage have a bachelor’s degree.
Heading into 2025, the two appeared to be getting closer. Cole’s district includes some of the Republican-leaning counties that Trump carried in 2020 and 2024, and that Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin won by more than 20 percentage points in those years.
Still, Cole continued to persuade voters that he could flip his district, which includes parts of Spotsylvania and Caroline counties.
“Early in the campaign, when I brought in my staff, one of the main messages I told them was that we needed to stop saying this district was red or leaning red,” Cole said, adding, “We needed to encourage people who weren’t red that it was possible.”
Cole, who was elected to the Spotsylvania County School Board in 2021, created a strategy focused on cost of living and education. Two weeks before the Nov. 4 election, she spoke at Fredericksburg City Hall about tackling high utility bills from power companies.
“We know we need heat and air and we know we need to pay our utility bills,” she says. “That means something else is being sacrificed. The quality of the food that we can buy for our children is also being sacrificed.”
When she greeted voters in November after the election, most people were tired of talking politics. But one voter, Caitlin Sapp, seemed curious to know what Democrats would do for her.
“I didn’t vote this year,” Sapp said. “I’ve never been very interested in politics, but lately I’ve been trying to learn more.”
Mr. Cole smiled and, without wasting a second, began talking about the issues his party aims to tackle next year, including health care costs, public education and utility bills.
fee to pay
Morris County also tilted heavily toward the Democratic Party.
The county was one of only four New Jersey counties to support both Democrat Joe Biden for president in 2020 and Republican Jack Ciatarelli for governor next year. Mr. Biden won Morris County by 4 points, while Mr. Ciatarelli won by more than 11 points. This 15.5 percentage point change was the sixth largest among the state’s 21 counties. By 2024, Trump had narrowly flipped Morris County, winning by just under 3 percentage points.
This time Sheryl defeated Ciattarelli there.
Cheryl’s win isn’t all that surprising, she’s no stranger to the county. The governor-elect represented the county while in Congress and has a track record of working with state Republican lawmakers in the county.
“She has tremendous appeal to Republican voters,” said Darcy Drager, chair of the Morris County Democratic Party.
Sweeney, whose district includes part of the county, said voters seem to be paying attention to how the president’s policies will affect them.
“People watch the news and want to know what’s going on with the Trump administration, and they’re seeing how it’s impacting local people and seeing the entire government shut down and people losing their SNAP benefits,” Sweeney said. “We’re talking about people within our own communities.”
This is an outlook shared by some conservatives. Republicans said the overarching influence of the second Trump administration and clashes with congressional Democrats have hurt the party in New Jersey.
“We need our constituents to understand that we are here to serve them and that we are listening to them,” said Republican Sen. Anthony Bucco (Morris County). “I think that message has been drowned out a little bit by Washington.”
Passaic County in northern New Jersey, not far from New York, is another area that is seeing a return to the Democratic Party. The heavily Latino county voted for Trump in 2024, the first time it has gone Republican in decades. This year, he returned to the Democratic Party with double-digit approval ratings.
John Currie, the longtime Passaic Democratic Party chairman, emphasized that his return to the party was due to the “hard work” of candidates, along with a message about cutting costs. And for not talking enough about the costs, Curry said Republicans paid the ultimate price.
“Affordable – it’s that simple.”
