Democrats had a generally strong showing in Westchester County on Election Day 2025, with incumbent County Executive Ken Jenkins being elected over Republican Christine Sculti. The results in Westchester were in keeping with Democratic victories in key contests that have attracted national interest including Democrats winning governorships in New Jersey and Virginia and Democrat Zorhan Mamdani winning over former Gov. Andrew Cuomo to become the next mayor of New York City.
Democrat Tom Roach, currently the mayor of White Plains, bested Republican Sheila Marcotte, an Eastchester councilwoman, to succeed Westchester County Clerk Tim Idoni, who is retiring from the post. Democrat Justin Brasch was elected to succeed Roach as mayor.
Westchester voters selected four Democratic judges for the State Supreme Court 9th Judicial District: Verris Shako; Diane Clerkin; John Collins Jr.; and Desmond Lyons. Democrat Erin McGoey was elected to the County Court and Democrat Emily Rubin was elected Family Court judge.
In the contest for county executive, Republican Sculti had received an endorsement from Rupert Murdoch’s conservative newspaper the New York Post. Sculti had been defeated in February when she ran against Jenkins to fill the remaining term of former County Executive George Latimer, who resigned after being elected to Congress. In her campaign, she has emphasized a need for government fiscal responsibility.
During the election night gathering of county Democrats and Jenkins supporters at Kanopi at the top of The Opus in White Plains, State Senate Majority Leader Andrew Stewart-Cousins said, “It’s a fabulous night for Democrats across the country. They thought we were asleep … but what we did was exercise our rights.”
Jenkins said that he was glad that his campaign was able to maintain stability, confidence and civility in what he termed really difficult and challenging times.
“Tonight we’re celebrating more than a victory,” Jenkins said. “When leadership and government listens, when it actually cares about the people, we put people first, it makes a difference and the progress follows. We’ve made Westchester safer, we’ve made Westchester more affordable, we’ve made it stronger, we made it more sustainable, we made it more united, than ever, ever before. Let’s keep moving forward with integrity, with purpose and with pride in the place that we call home, Westchester County.”
Across the Hudson River in Rockland County, incumbent County Executive Ed Day, running as a Republican/Conservative and not facing a Democratic Party candidate, scored almost 74% of the votes against Michael Parietti who ran as the Good Government candidate. Day will be serving his fourth term in the office.
In New York City, 34-year-old Zohran Mamdani who beat out former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in a primary to get the Democratic nomination to run for mayor, won the office. He again defeated Cuomo, who ran for mayor as an independent candidate. The Republican candidate was Curtis Sliwa. President Trump proclaimed that Mamdani is a “communist” and threatened to withhold federal funds from New York City if Mamdani was elected.
Democrats scored big in New Jersey, where Rep. Mikie Sherrill won the race for governor against Republican nominee Jack Ciattarelli who received strong backing from Donald Trump. Sherrill will follow the term-limited Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy. The contest marked Ciattarelli’s third defeat for governor.
Democrat Abigail Spanberger flipped the governor’s office in Virginia to the Democrats and Democrat Ghazala Hashmi won the Virginia lieutenant governor’s race and will become the nation’s first Muslim woman elected to statewide office.
Voters in California approved a proposition for which Gov. Gavin Newsom had campaigned authorizing redrawing of the state’s Congressional District map. The redistricting in California would be to create five more Democratic seats in the House of Representatives to neutralize Republican gerrymandering. Republicans have been working to redraw districts to pick up additional House seats in next year’s elections.
