Call it a “mini blue wave.”

Indeed, in the first referendum on President Donald Trump’s second term, voters delivered Democrats a clean sweep, taking governor mansions in New Jersey, Virginia, passing Prop 50 in California, and winning a number of other off-year elections.

To be sure, Democrats had been expected to win both New Jersey and Virginia, despite glimpses of Republican momentum in recent years.

Thus, while the results themselves were not upsets, the margins of victory should give the Democratic Party some optimism, even as it still tries to find its footing.

At the core of Democrats’ successes was putting Trump on the ballot, harnessing anti-Trump sentiment to motivate their base as well as Independents upset at the direction of the country under the incumbent administration.

See Full Page