Voters in races across the country backed Democrats, including in New York’s mayoral race and contests for governor in New Jersey and Virginia, rejecting President Donald Trump’s late and lightweight push for his preferred candidates. Democrats secured another expected win in California, where voters approved a new congressional map that is designed to help their party win five more U.S. House seats in next year’s midterm elections.

"Voters gave a resounding endorsement of Democrats and I think a rebuke of the Trump administration's policies," said Tom Kahn, a former senior House staffer.

Before becoming a professor and director of American University's Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies, Kahn spent more than three decades working in Congress, holding senior posts in three House Committees.

Though the candidates and local issues all played a role in the results, voter attitudes about the president and his agenda were central to their choices and offered the first clear review from voters of Trump’s agenda just nine months after he returned to power.