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Record voter turnout, a revolt against Trump and DOGE in Virginia, affordability remains a throughline and all should worry Trump, Mike Johnson and the Republicans, Eric Garcia writes. Plus, one tough lesson for Democrats

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Cowabunga! The Democratic Blue Wave crashed onto the Jersey Shore, Virginia Beach, Rockaway Beach, Malibu and even the shores of Georgia and Miami.

In Virginia, Abigail Spanberger did not just beat Winsome Earle-Sears: she crushed the Republican to become the first female governor of the commonwealth.

The same night, Jay Jones, the nominee for attorney general, overcame a scandal where he texted a Republican colleague, likening the former Republican speaker of the House of Delegates to Hitler and calling the speaker’s children “little fascists”, and won.

In New Jersey, Mikie Sherrill overcame plenty of doubters and clocked in a double-digit victory for the governorship against Republican Jack Ciattarelli when polling either showed her within single digits or even in a dead-heat. In doing so, she defied gravity and New Jersey will elect a Democrat as governor for the third consecutive time since 1961.

Then there was Zohran Mamdani, the insurgent democratic socialist, who dislodged Andrew Cuomo, the disgraced former governor of New York, to become the first Muslim mayor of New York City. And the Big Apple’s youngest in 100 years. Meanwhile, in Georgia, Democrats flipped two public service commissioner seats. And to boot, after years of being the butt of every joke, a Democratic candidate will advance to the runoff race to be mayor of Miami.

Added to that, California’s governor, Trump nemesis and presumptive 2028 presidential candidate Gavin Newsom capped the evening with a big win on his Proposition 50 ballot measure to create as many as five more Democratic congressional seats — countering a move made by Republicans in Texas.