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<\/p>\nPresident Trump isn’t on the ballot in 2025. But he’s still on voters’ minds ahead of the first general election since his second term win a year ago.<\/p>\n
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Will California say yes to redistricting with Prop 50?<\/p>\n
Proposition 50 sparks debate over redistricting in California. It will play a substantial role in deciding which party controls the U.S. House.<\/p>\n
The Democratic candidates for governor in New Jersey and Virginia<\/a> are making opposition to Donald Trump<\/a> central to their pitches. In California<\/a>, an ad urges voters<\/a> to “stick it to Trump,” while New York City’s frontrunner for mayor says<\/a> he’ll “stand up” to the president of the United States if he wins.<\/p>\n Trump’s name is not on the ballot in 2025. He’s a lame duck whose political retirement<\/a> looms in three years. But the off-year races culminating on Nov. 4 have nonetheless put a spotlight onto the 79-year-old Republican – his likeness featured in ads, debates and on the minds of voters as America braces for its first general election since Trump won his second term<\/a> nearly a year ago.<\/p>\n Democrats have reasons for optimism. The major 2025 races in New Jersey, Virginia and California are largely being fought on turf where Trump is both unpopular and never won his own statewide campaign. The president’s opponents are hoping they can tap into the angst felt by voters such as Mary Ruehl, a 71-year-old Virginia resident who said she’d been thinking of the current White House occupant as she recently cast a ballot at an early polling location.<\/p>\n \u201cI want to try to get Trump out,\u201d said Ruehl, a retired Air Force officer and lifelong Democrat, adding: \u201cHe\u2019s the worst president we\u2019ve ever had.\u201d<\/p>\n More: <\/strong>Millions turned out to protest Trump for ‘No Kings’. Now what?<\/a><\/p>\n Republicans see things much differently. Trump is the party leader, and they’re leaning into the president as much as possible with an eye on igniting the same forces that helped the GOP in 2024 to capture the White House and take full control of Congress. \u00a0<\/p>\n While Trump has largely stayed off the campaign trail – he’s spending much of the final week before Election Day on a trip to Asia<\/a> – he’s hardly gone dark on politics. He’s made New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani a frequent target as Republicans try to portray Democrats as too far left. <\/strong>New Jersey GOP gubernatorial nominee Jack Ciattarelli <\/a>told the USA TODAY Network that he speaks to Trump every couple of weeks, and the president reupped his endorsement in a recent social media post<\/a> reminding Garden State voters: “HE WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN!”<\/p>\n The clearest thing to a referendum on Trump is in California, where Democrats are pushing voter<\/a>s to back the Proposition 50<\/a> redistricting ballot measure in response to the president’s demands that Republicans in Texas and elsewhere in the country redraw their own House maps in favor of the GOP. The pro-Prop 50 campaign revolves around a simple message: Stopping Trump’s perceived power grab and putting a check on the White House via the 2026 midterm elections that will determine who controls the House and Senate during the final two years of the Republican’s second term.<\/p>\n More: <\/strong>California redistricting fight has voters pushing back – against Trump and Newsom<\/a><\/p>\n Brewing opposition<\/p>\n The aggressive opening act of Trump\u2019s second term has thrilled his supporters, as the president flexes his power in myriad ways. But backlash has also been brewing.<\/p>\n Trump took office in January with a 51% approval rating. That’s now down to 45%, according to the Real Clear Politics polling average.<\/a><\/p>\n Millions of people protested on Oct. 18 for “No Kings” demonstrations <\/a>across the country, the second big coast-to-coast anti-Trump rally since his inauguration in January. Democrats, meanwhile, have been performing well this year, winning<\/a> a state Supreme Court seat in Wisconsin, flipping two GOP-held state Senate seats in Iowa<\/a> and over-performing<\/a> in dozens of other special elections from Florida<\/a> to Arizona.<\/p>\n More: <\/strong>Could she be Democrats’ greatest Hope? Meet Tim Walz’s TikTok famous daughter.<\/a><\/p>\n More: <\/strong>Democrats prevail in Wisconsin while GOP holds the line in Florida: 3 takeaways<\/a><\/p>\n In 42 state legislative and U.S. congressional races across 18 states in 2025, Democrats have improved their margins by an average of more than 15% over the gap between Trump and Democrat Kamala Harris in the same districts last year, according to data collected by the political website\u00a0The Downballot<\/a>.<\/p>\n Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin pointed to the special election results in a recent memo to argue the party is in a “strong position” heading into the 2026 midterms.<\/p>\n Trump also has been looking ahead to the midterms, arguing his record should ensure a good performance for the GOP while simultaneously fretting about the history of incumbent presidents seeing their party pummeled when voters go back to the polls two years after a White House race.<\/p>\n “The odds are like tremendously against,” Trump said at a recent lunch in the Rose Garden with Senate Republicans, before declaring that “We have to win the midterms, otherwise all the things that we’ve done, so many of them, are going to be taken away.”<\/p>\n More: <\/strong>Trump vs. the midterm blues: Can he get MAGA voters excited (and voting) in 2026?<\/a><\/p>\n Both parties are hoping to come out of the November election with momentum for the more consequential 2026 contests<\/a>, where control of Congress hangs in the balance, and with it Trump’s agenda. A Democratic majority would block the president from passing legislation and usher in aggressive oversight of the White House.<\/p>\n Hoping to avoid that scenario, Trump is pushing red-state Republicans to give him a more favorable midterm map that helps the GOP maintain its trifecta control of Washington<\/a>. Texas<\/a> and Missouri<\/a> have already redrawn their House maps at Trump’s urging and other red states such as Florida<\/a>, North Carolina<\/a>, Indiana<\/a>, and Kansas<\/a> are contemplating their own redistricting moves.<\/p>\n That means the California election could be especially consequential if Democrats succeed in checking at least part of Trump\u2019s redistricting efforts.<\/p>\n Democrats play Trump card<\/p>\n In Virginia, Democratic candidate for governor Abigail Spanberger closed out her only debate with Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears by trying to tie her to Trump.<\/p>\n Spanberger at the Oct. 9 event in Norfolk criticized Trump\u2019s tariffs<\/a> and raised concerns about cuts to Virginia’s workforce<\/a>, which has been hit hard by the Trump administration\u2019s slashing of federal agencies. Additionally, the government shutdown has furloughed roughly 750,000 federal workers, many of them in Virginia, and left thousands more working without pay.<\/p>\n More: <\/strong>Could the federal shutdown and DOGE cuts tip Virginia’s governor\u2019s race?<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cI will always put Virginians first\u2026 my opponent has not done the same, putting her allegiance to Donald Trump first, no matter the cost,\u201d Spanberger said.<\/a><\/p>\n Earle-Sears shot back: \u201cIf I were taking a drink\u201d for every Trump comment Spanberger made \u201cI tell you we would be drunk by now.\u201d<\/p>\n New Jersey’s Democratic candidate for governor, Mikie Sherrill, <\/a>also has been eager to highlight Trump as she works to energize Democrats in a state where the president narrowed his losing margin to six percentage points last year, after he lost by 16 points in 2020. Sherrill opened her first debate<\/a> with Ciattarelli by declaring “he’ll do whatever Trump tells him to do.”<\/p>\n Focusing on Trump could help get Democrats to the polls, so \u201cthe Democratic candidate is doing everything she can to talk about Donald Trump all the time,\u201d Fairleigh Dickinson University political science professor Dan Cassino said of Sherrill.<\/p>\n That comes with risks, though. Democrats have struggled in recent elections when they focused too much on an anti-Trump message and not enough on solutions to pressing issues. At the same time, Trump has made gains with core Democratic-leaning groups, such as minorities and younger voters.<\/p>\n \u201cThey can\u2019t just run this reflexively anti-Trump campaign the way they did in 2017 when president Trump was first elected,\u201d said New Jersey GOP consultant Alex Wilkes.<\/p>\n Trump weighs in<\/p>\n The campaign page for Earle-Sears lists dozens of endorsements from GOP leaders. Trump isn’t among them.<\/p>\n The president didn’t mention Earle-Sears<\/a> during a recent appearance in Norfolk for the Navy’s 250th anniversary, which she attended.<\/p>\n Asked by reporters aboard Air Force One about the Virginia race on Oct. 19 as he was traveling back to the White House from Florida, Trump said Earle-Sears is “excellent” while noting he hasn’t “been too much involved in Virginia.”<\/p>\n Trump has endorsed in Virginia, though, backing the GOP <\/a>attorney general in his race against a Democrat embroiled in a text messaging scandal.<\/p>\n With Earle-Sears trailing significantly in polling<\/a>, Trump has focused more on the New Jersey governor’s race, endorsing Ciattarelli and praising him in a recent social media post <\/a>as “A WINNER FOR NEW JERSEY!”<\/p>\n Ciattarelli has embraced Trump’s record, saying in a recent debate <\/a>that he would give the president an \u201cA\u201d grade even as he tried to steer the conversation to local issues. When asked if he is part of Trump\u2019s MAGA movement, Ciattarelli said he\u2019s “part of a New Jersey movement.” Trump campaigned for Ciattarelli in the primary, calling into a telephone rally<\/a> to declare “New Jersey is ready to pop out of that blue horror show.\u201d<\/p>\n More: <\/strong>Who is Jack Ciattarelli, New Jersey’s Republican candidate for governor?<\/a><\/p>\n In their appeal to voters, Ciattarelli and his allies are blaming Democrats, who control the governor\u2019s mansion and the Legislature, for New Jersey\u2019s problems.<\/p>\n \u201cThis has been one party rule. Democrats have run the show,\u201d Wilkes said.<\/p>\n More: <\/strong>Who is Mikie Sherrill, New Jersey’s Democratic candidate for governor?<\/a><\/p>\n Every race is unique, and factors such as fundraising, candidate strength and local issues all come into play. Former New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman, a Republican turned independent who has endorsed Sherrill, acknowledged that Ciattarelli is a strong candidate, saying he is well-versed on local issues after years of involvement in state politics.<\/p>\n “But it\u2019s hard to get away from the statements that he\u2019s made about Trump,” she said.<\/p>\n Trump or Newsom?<\/p>\n While GOP losses in New Jersey and Virginia could hurt party enthusiasm heading into the midterms, a loss in California would be a more tangible setback for Trump. The contest has been all about the president.<\/p>\n More: <\/strong>‘Democracy is on the ballot,’ Obama says in new California Prop 50 TV ad<\/a><\/p>\n