Trump’s policies face early test in elections

Voters in New Jersey and Virginia were to choose their next governors on Tuesday in a pair of races that will serve as an early gauge of the American electorate’s mood after President Donald Trump's norm-shattering nine months in office.

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In New York City’s mayoral race, Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani, a 34-year-old democratic socialist, faces 67-year-old Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat running as an independent after losing to Mamdani in the primary, four years after resigning as New York state's governor in disgrace.

The campaign has laid bare the Democratic Party's generational and ideological divides as it seeks to rehabilitate its damaged brand.

And in California, voters will decide whether to give Democratic lawmakers the power to redraw the state's congressional map, expanding a national battle over redistricting that could determine which party controls the U.S. House of Representatives after next year’s midterm elections.

Polls close first in Virginia at 7 p.m. ET (0000 GMT), followed by New Jersey, New York and California throughout Tuesday evening.

Democrats will be watching Tuesday's results carefully, with the party locked out of power in Washington and struggling to find consensus on the best path out of the political wilderness.