Democrats Make a Startling Comeback on Election Day
From WSJ Opinion: Free Expression by Gerard Baker, Editor at Large, The Wall Street Journal
November 5, 2025 · 37 min
About this episode
Gerry Baker discusses the surprising gains of the Democratic party in recent elections with Joel Kotkin, focusing on urban political trends and challenges for the Republican Party.
Reports of the death of the Democratic party appear to have been greatly exaggerated. The party made big gains across the country in Tuesday’s off-year elections. The races for governor in New Jersey and Virginia produced wins for Mikie Sherrill and Abigail Spanberger, Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani fought off a challenge from Trump-endorsed Andrew Cuomo, and Gavin Newsom’s plan for a Democrat-favorable redistricting in California won big. How big are the warning signs for the Republican Party and how do they respond? On this episode of Free Expression, Gerry Baker speaks with Joel Kotkin, professor of urban studies and expert on the culture and politics of American cities, about why large cities like New York and Chicago are moving further and further left, why affordability is the largest issue to urban voters, the changing nature of racial politics and how Donald Trump and Republicans need to respond. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
People in this episode
Host: Gerry Baker
Guest: Joel Kotkin
Topics covered
- Democratic party
- elections
- urban politics
- Republican response
- redistricting
- affordability
- racial politics
Keywords
- Democratic gains
- elections
- urban studies
- Republican Party
- politics
- redistricting
- affordability
- racial politics
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Republican Party, Democratic party
Places: New Jersey, Virginia, California, New York, Chicago
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