Last night was always going to go down in history because, for the first time, state and city races unfolded under the full control of a partisan president already in his second term, and amid the longest government shutdown ever recorded.

Over the summer, the president celebrated Independence Day by declaring he “hates Democrat” in Iowa. “I hate them,” he said. “I really do.” As it turns out, his constituents don’t share the sentiment.

Because yesterday, voters across the nation were effectively deciding — not just city halls and governors’ mansions — but just how much power President Donald Trump will wield over the rest of his presidency, making for an election about testing the system’s endurance and the idea that the states can still serve as the last line of resistance.

In major political upsets, voters did indeed deliver a map of where American politics and culture are heading next. In New York City, Zohran Kwame Mamdani — an immigrant, a Muslim, a democratic socialist and at the youngest age in over a century at just 34 years old — became its next mayor.

His affordability-first message, multi-lingual outreach and “man of the people” approach didn’t just win a race, it actually rewired who showed up — signaling that working-class immigrant blocs and Gen Z can now decide marquee contests.

Notably, former governor Andrew Cuomo ran as an independent after losing the Democratic primary to Mamdani, and in an unexpected move, Trump endorsed him over his own party’s nominee, Republican Curtis Sliwa — an endorsement that exposed how much more valuable loyalty is to the president than even his own party.

In California, voters were deliberating whether to rewrite the state’s congressional map to counter Texas’s Trump-backed, mid-decade redistricting — a battle that will influence who comes out on top in next year’s midterm elections. And despite lawsuits from California Republicans as well as pressure from the President to back off, Governor Gavin Newsom won this round. His constituents voted in favor of the new maps, passing Prop 50 and likely earning California five more Democratic districts.

Trump has increasingly called California’s proposition “unconstitutional,” claiming, without evidence, that “No” votes were disregarded and that the election was rigged. He has not commented on the five other states working on their own new maps, which are being imposed without an election. In response, his administration sent a known critic of California elections to monitor them. Still, Californians have spoken.

In Virginia, the race between Democrat Abigail Spanberger and Republican Winsome Earle-Sears was going to make history no matter what — electing its first female governor, but it was also the first major test of how Trumpism fares in a purple state impacted by the shutdown’s economic fallout.

However, Spanberger, a former Congresswoman and CIA officer, pulled off a win and became the first woman to do so, succeeding 74 men. With a deliberately-moderate and relentlessly Anti-Trump campaign, her margin was big enough to boost Democrats down ballot early — an indicator that suburban, federal workforce communities are pushing the administration’s cuts close to home.

Over in New Jersey, Democrat Mikie Sherill faced Trump-endorsed Jack Ciatterelli, in an election that would determine whether Democrats keep their fragile foothold on the East Coast or watch Trump expand his influence beyond Washington.

In a historical upset, Sherill — a former Navy pilot and federal prosecutor who rose to prominence during the 2018 “blue wave” — defeated Ciatterelli. Called early, the win cemented democratic control of the Garden State and dealt a significant blow to republican hopes of reclaiming influence in a state that often swings, but rarely surprises. For decades, New Jersey voters have alternated between Democratic and Republican governors roughly every eight years — a pendulum that seemed poised to swing red again, following Phil Murphy’s two terms. But Sherill’s campaign broke that pattern, defying political gravity and voter fatigue.

While high property taxes, high energy costs and some widespread frustration over affordability gave Republicans confidence heading into Election Day, Sherill managed to navigate those headwinds with precision, running on skyrocketing electricity costs and mental health investments in school. In turn, she framed herself as a pragmatic leader focused on renewal and results as opposed to ideology. Culturally, the signal is broader — voters in a restless state rewarded competence over grievance, and a woman with national security credentials over Ciatterelli’s message.

After narrowly losing to Murphy in 2021 as a moderate, Ciatterelli bet that leaning into President Trump’s movement would fire up the GOP base, but instead, it alienated suburban moderates and independent voters who once made him competitive.

Sherill, on the other hand, by built a broad coalition across suburban and younger voters motivated by reproductive rights, gun safety and good governance, and came out victorious in a win that means more than a “blue win in a blue state.” It’s a historic break in New Jersey’s decades-long political cycle against an opponent who relied on MAGA ideology and Trump’s support.

Virginia voters elected the first Muslim woman to statewide office anywhere in the country with Ghazala Hashmi as lieutenant governor. And in Detroit, Council President Mary Sheffield will become the city’s first mayor, capping a decade of recovery with a mandate to spread investment beyond downtown — an equity test for the next chapter of rust-belt revitalization. Lower south, Miami is heading to a December runoff with Commissioner Eileen Higgins leading, and if she wins, she’ll be the city’s first woman mayor — a result hinting at voter fatigue with insider dynasties and a hunger for basic governance fixes amid an affordability crisis.

Even though the Nov 4 elections were historic for all of the aforementioned reasons — there is one element that you might not have expected. In Boston, Mayor Michelle Wu ran unopposed with her only challenger, John Kraft — yes, that Kraft. The son of Patriots owner Robert Kraft — having dropped out days after losing the Sept primary in a landslide. Wu took more than 70 percent of the vote to his 23 percent. That week, Kraft framed his exit as an act of unity, saying that Boston needed to come closer together, despite its differences.

“The country’s at a place now,” he said. “We see it every day, where the vitriol and the political arguing and fighting — it’s not leading to anything, but anger and negativity.”

As a result, Wu ran unopposed — but that’s not because there wasn’t a race to run. It’s because the people of Boston had spoken.

“She got more popular the harder Kraft ran against her,” WBZ’s John Keller said. “Which is quite a trick to pull off.”

Not to mention, Wu’s popularity has only grown stronger during Trump’s second term as she’s positioned Boston as a defiant sanctuary city and doubled down on affordability, transit and climate reform.

As Wu said during her speech Tuesday night, “This year, against the backdrop of a federal administration’s chaos and cruelty, we faced a choice: cave to the pressure, backtrack and change course, or double down on the values that founded our nation. That’s what’s at stake. That’s what this election was about here in Boston.”

But as it turns out, those are the stakes beyond Boston.