Election 2025 live updates: VA, NJ, CA voters to offer their feelings about Trump

Virginia and New Jersey voters will each pick a new governor, and Californians will decide on a major redistricting push on Election Day. All of the races could signal how voters are feeling about President Donald Trump and their mood heading into the 2026 midterms.

Democratic U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger is trying to win control of the Virginia governor's mansion from the GOP in a contest against Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears. Republican Jack Ciattarelli is making his third bid for governor in New Jersey after losing by just three percentage points in 2021. The former state lawmaker faces off against Democratic U.S. Rep. Mikie Sherrill.

California, meanwhile, votes on the Proposition 50 ballot measure pushed by Democrats that would allow state leaders to temporarily bypass an independent redistricting commission and draw a new House map. Democrats want to draw more seats in California that favor their party after Texas created more GOP-leaning seats.

The races are among a handful of statewide contests that offer the first big opportunity to gauge voter sentiment nearly a year into Trump's aggressive second term. The president has loomed large over the elections, featuring in ads and debates.

Democrats hope to see more signs of a growing backlash to Trump, while the GOP is working to blunt the typical momentum for the party out of power.

The elections are a precursor to more consequential midterm contests next year, when control of Congress – and with it the fate of Trump’s legislative agenda – will be decided.

High turnout being reported in Virginia

Chief Election Officer Jason Long of Ward 2 in Staunton said Tuesday morning that voter turnout, so far, had surprisingly been higher than anticipated.

“Turnout here has been a lot higher than anyone expected,” Long said. Of the ward’s roughly 3,800 registered voters, he said 450 had already voted in person by 10:40 a.m.

One of those voters was Debra Dawson, 29, who was with her daughter, 7-year-old Thea, who goes with her mother every year to vote.

“I voted yesterday at school too,” Thea said.

Dawson said Virginia’s race for governor, pitting Republican Winsome Earle-Sears against Democrat Abigail Spanberger, was her main focus on Tuesday.

“The governor race is really important to me,” Dawson said. “But all of them really are. I think voting in any election, big or small, local or wider, is very important.”

--Brad Zinn

JD Vance urges New Jersey voters to pick Ciattarelli after 'crap leadership'

Vice President JD Vance urged New Jersey voters to cast their ballot for Republican Jack Ciattarelli for governor on the morning of Election Day, saying the state has "suffered" under "crap leadership."

"Get out there and vote for Jack if you live in NJ," he wrote on X. "New Jersey is such a great state but it’s suffered too long under crap leadership."

-- Cybele Mayes-Osterman

When do polls close in Virginia, New Jersey and California?

Polls close in Virginia at 7 p.m. ET and New Jersey at 8 p.m. ET. California polls close at 8 p.m. PT.

Virginia election results can be found here, while New Jersey's results are here and California's results are here.

Trump looms large on Election Day

The Democratic candidates for governor in New Jersey and Virginia are making opposition to Donald Trump central to their pitches. In California, an ad urges voters to "stick it to Trump," while New York City's frontrunner for mayor says he'll "stand up" to the president of the United States if he wins.

Trump's name is not on the ballot in 2025. He's a lame duck whose political retirement looms in three years. But the off-year races culminating on Tuesday have nonetheless put a spotlight on the 79-year-old Republican.

While Trump has largely stayed off the campaign trail – he spent much of the final week before Election Day on a trip to Asia – 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.

Ciattarelli 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 reminding Garden State voters: "HE WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN!"

Bomb threat reported at New Jersey polling stations

Law enforcement is investigating email threats at polling places in Bergen, Essex, Mercer, Middlesex, Monmo Ocean and Passaic Counties, according to a statement from New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin, the USA TODAY NETWORK reported.

Some polling places have since reopened. At polling places that remained closed, voters were sent to other sits to pick up provisional ballots.

“Voters should continue to have confidence that they can cast their ballot without fear of intimidation, and we will continue to work tirelessly to ensure a free, fair, and secure election,” Platkin wrote. “We will not tolerate any attempts to interfere with our elections, and we will swiftly hold accountable anyone who seeks to interfere with the safety or security of our electoral process.”

Virginia election official says there are ‘concerns’ about postal service issues

Virginia Department of Elections Commissioner Susan Beals said the department has “concerns” about mail-in ballots making it to registrars’ offices around the commonwealth by the Friday deadline.

Beals was responding to a question about the department’s confidence in the U.S. Postal Service during a Tuesday morning news briefing.

She said the department has worked “very closely” with the postal service in the lead up to the election, calling them “fantastic partners.”

“While we have been very happy with the type of response that they’ve shown us, we do still have concerns and have heard from voters that there are concerns,” Beals said.

She said voters with concerns about their mail-in ballots could fill out a regular ballot at their polling place or contact their registrar’s office to confirm the status of their ballot.

Beals also noted a polling location change in Newport News, Virginia, after a driver crashed their vehicle into a planned voting location at Ivy Farms Community of Faith Church over the weekend. The building was condemned, and the polling location was moved to South Morrison Family Education Center.

Roughly 1.4 million Virginians had voted early as of Nov. 1, Beals said, with 1.1 million early votes cast in person and 300,000 returned through the mail.

Another news briefing is scheduled for 8 p.m. Tuesday.

In Virginia, no problems have been reported, according to the election department.

– BrieAnna Frank

Jones and Miyares neck and neck in VA Attorney General race

In the race for Virginia attorney general, Democrat Jay Jones and Republican Jason Miyares, the incumbent, are neck and neck, according to recent polls.

An Emerson College/The Hill poll released on Nov. 2 showed Jones up by two points with 49% to Miyares' 47%. Other recent polls have showed the pair tied.

The election attracted national attention after texts Jones sent in 2022 saying the state's then-House speaker should get "two bullets to the head" were revealed. Jones later apologized for the texts, saying he was "ashamed" and "embarrassed" that he sent them.

Spanberger and Sherrill hope to redefine Democrats

They both were members of the 2018 freshman class that helped Democrats retake the U.S. House. Both present themselves as kitchen-table centrists with extensive military and national security experience.

And the two friends − who text each other regularly and were roommates on Capitol Hill − were even born in each other’s states.

Now, Spanberger and Sherrill, two moderate gubernatorial candidates, are seen by some observers as a model for how Democrats can make a broad electoral appeal, in contrast to the party's socialist nominee for New York City mayor, Zohran Mamdani, who has been a target for President Donald Trump.

– Phillip M. Bailey, Katie Sobko

Spanberger sends condolences on ex-Vice President Dick Cheney

As Virginia voters took to the polls Tuesday morning, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Abigail Spanberger posted condolences about the passing of former Republican Vice President Dick Cheney.

Cheney served as second-in-command under President George W. Bush, but veered from Republican Party leadership following the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol by supporters of President Donald Trump. Cheney endorsed then-Vice President Kamala Harris for president in the 2024 election.

"My prayers are with the family of Vice President Dick Cheney today — his wife Lynne Cheney, his daughters Liz and Mary, and their families — as they mourn his passing," Spanberger posted on X.

Poll: Democrat Sherrill's lead against Republican Ciattarelli within margin of error

A poll released Oct. 30 found the New Jersey race for governor could be growing tighter, with Democratic Rep. Mikie Sherrill edging 4 points ahead of Republican Jack Ciattarelli less than a week before Election Day.

The statewide poll from Suffolk University puts Sherrill's support among likely voters at 46%, while Ciattarelli, a former state assemblyman, stands at 42%, though the difference is still within the survey's margins of error. Another 7% of respondents said they were undecided and 3% refused to respond. Two other candidates on the ballot received 1% of support.

A separate poll released Oct 31 showed Sherrill had a slight lead over Ciattarelli.

The AtlasIntel poll of more than 1,600 likely voters in New Jersey, which was conducted from Oct. 25 to Oct. 30, showed Sherrill getting 50.2% of the vote compared to Ciattarelli's 49.3%, with a 2% margin of error.

Sherrill narrowly ahead, Nate Silver's 'most accurate' poll finds

Democrat Mikie Sherrill will narrowly eke out a win over Jack Ciattarelli, her Republican opponent, in the New Jersey gubernatorial election, according to a poll considered the "most accurate" by election analyst Nate Silver.

AtlasIntel, which was considered the most accurate pollster in the 2020 presidential election, found Sherrill holds 50.2% Ciattarelli's 49.3%, according to a poll released on Oct. 31.

Polling averages have shown Sherrill ahead of Ciattarelli by 4.6 to 6.6 points, still within the margin of error.

Poll: Democrat Spanberger leads in Virginia

A survey released Oct. 23 found Democrat Abigail Spanberger has a nine-point lead over Republican challenger and Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears in the Virginia governor's race, seen as a national bellwether election.

In a Suffolk University poll of likely voters released Oct. 23, Spanberger garnered 52% of the vote among survey respondents, followed by Earl-Sears' 43%. Another 3% said they were undecided.

Earle-Sears left out of Trump's GOP endorsements

President Donald Trump has endorsed the Republican candidates for New Jersey governor and Virginia attorney general - Jack Ciattarelli and Jason Miyares - in glowing terms.

Ciattarelli "IS A WINNER FOR NEW JERSEY," Trump wrote in all caps in an Oct. 20 Truth Social post. Miyares "WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN," he wrote in an Oct. 5 post.

Notably absent was Winsome Earle-Sears, the Republican running for Virginia governor, who Trump has never endorsed by name.

Earle-Sears provoked Trump's ire when, in 2022, she called Trump a "liability" and said "voters want to move on." Trump hit back in a post at the time that he "Never felt good" about Earle-Sears. "Always thought she was a phony."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Election 2025 live updates: VA, NJ, CA voters to offer their feelings about Trump

Reporting by Zac Anderson, Aysha Bagchi, Kathryn Palmer and Cybele Mayes-Osterman, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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