Texas redistricting case turns ugly as judge dissents 15 times
Brandon Bell/Getty Images, FILE
(WASHINGTON) — When a federal court Tuesday dropped its bombshell 160-page decision invalidating Texas Republicans’ mid-decade redistricting effort as blatant racial gerrymandering, there was one big missing piece of the puzzle: a dissent.
It turns out Trump-appointed Judge Jeffrey V. Brown, who authored the majority opinion, didn’t allow dissenting Judge Jerry E. Smith, a Reagan appointee, much time to respond in writing, releasing the ruling before the counterpoint was finished, as is customary.
“Fasten your seatbelts. It’s going to be a bumpy night!” Smith wrote bluntly in a statement released late Wednesday.
What followed was a remarkable statement of sharp personal criticism and vigorous legal argument, notable both for its tone and rationale, which could potentially influence members of the Supreme Court who will ultimately decide the fate of Texas’ 2025 map.
Smith, a member of the federal bench for more than 37 years, repeated the phrase “I dissent” 15 times over 100 pages.
He accused Brown of “pernicious judicial misbehavior” — the “most outrageous conduct by a judge that I have ever encountered” — for not waiting to consider his dissent before going public with the ruling.
Brown’s opinion, joined by Judge David Guaderrama, an Obama appointee, and released Tuesday afternoon, blocked Texas from deploying a new congressional map for the 2026 midterm elections, concluding “substantial evidence show that Texas racially gerrymandered the map.”
The decision roiled a nationwide redistricting arms race initiated by President Donald Trump as part of a bid to retain Republican control of the narrowly divided House of Representatives. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has said he will appeal.
Brown concluded that the entire redrawing effort — which typically only happens once every decade — was undertaken primarily in response to an explicit Trump Justice Department request “based entirely on the racial makeup” of four Democrat-held districts.
Federal law and Supreme Court precedent prohibit race as a predominant factor when drawing maps that either intentionally disenfranchise minority voters or otherwise effectively dilute their influence.
The judge further reasoned that his opinion had to be released expeditiously — even before the dissent was finished — because of the urgent need for state officials to have certainty about the outcome in order to prepare for election season.
Smith accused Brown of doing the bidding of liberal billionaire activist George Soros and Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom. “If there were a Nobel Prize for fiction, Judge Brown’s opinion would be a prime candidate,” Smith wrote.
“If this were a law school exam, the opinion would deserve an ‘F,'” he said later in an unusually harsh rebuke.
Smith defended Texas’ mid-decade redrawn map as a purely partisan and entirely legal exercise.
“The most obvious reason for mid-cycle redistricting, of course, is partisan gain,” not deliberate racial animus, Smith wrote. He noted the Supreme Court has said courts must stay away from interfering with the political exercise of map-drawing.
Smith concluded his dissent with a remarkable bullet-point list of what he calls “misleading, deceptive, or false statements” that Brown made in the opinion — a highly unusual move in the buttoned-up world of judicial decorum.
Texas has not yet formally filed its appeal with the Supreme Court but is expected to do so quickly and will likely draw upon Smith’s dissent.
President Donald Trump looks on during a meeting of his Cabinet in the Cabinet Room of the White House on December 02, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Amid the news that the U.S. carried out a “large scale strike” on Venezuela overnight Saturday and captured the country’s leader, Nicolas Maduro, Americans may be wondering why Trump, who promised voters no more wars, would launch a risky ground operation to capture a foreign leader.
So far, Trump and his top aides have offered shifting explanations since Trump’s military buildup in Latin America began earlier this year.
Initially, Trump defended his military operations near Venezuela as keeping drugs out of the US, although experts say the cocaine that passes through Venezuela winds up mostly in Europe while fentanyl is sourced from China.
Trump also accused Maduro of emptying Venezuela’s prisons and “mental institutions” into the U.S., although there’s no evidence of that either. According to the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute, hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans have settled in the U.S. in recent years due to economic and political instability in their home country.
By mid-December, Trump accused Maduro of “stealing” U.S. oil and land. Trump appeared to be alluding to work done in the 1970s in Venezuela by Western oil companies before the government there opted to nationalize its reserves, eventually forcing out American companies.
In a Dec. 17 social media post – around the same time sources say Trump was making a decision to greenlight the Jan. 3 military operation — Trump said the U.S. military threat to Venezuela will “only get bigger, and the shock to them will be like nothing they have ever seen before — Until such time as they return to the United States of America all of the Oil, Land, and other Assets that they previously stole from us.”
Trump aide Stephen Miller made a similar claim.
“American sweat, ingenuity and toil created the oil industry in Venezuela. Its tyrannical expropriation was the largest recorded theft of American wealth and property,” Miller wrote on X.
Two days later at a press conference, Secretary of State Marc Rubio offered a more general explanation than access to oil reserves, calling Maduro’s presidency “intolerable” because it was cooperating with “terrorist and criminal elements” instead of the Trump administration.
Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants, has staked much of his political career as opposed to the communist Cuban government. He has long blamed Maduro as a primary source of instability in the region, including in Cuba where the regime still relies on Venezuela’s cheap oil.
“There is a regional threat, and in the case of Venezuela we have no cooperation,” Rubio told reporters Dec. 19. “To begin with, it is an illegitimate regime. Second, it is a regime that does not cooperate. It is anti-American in all its statements and actions. And third, it is a regime that not only does not cooperate with us, but also openly cooperates with dangerous, terrorist and criminal elements.”
The Venezuelan government issued a statement condemning what it called “the grave military aggression perpetrated by the current government of the United States of America.”
President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev shake hands after signing the latest nuclear arms reduction treaty between the two countries, known as “new START”, at Prague Castle, April 8, 2010, in Prague, Czech Republic. (Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — The historic treaty binding the U.S. and Russia to limit their deployment of the world’s most dangerous nuclear weapons lapsed overnight with no clear indication from Washington or Moscow on whether new talks would take place.
President Donald Trump, who in September appeared to be warming to the idea of renewing the treaty, backtracked last month, saying he would be comfortable allowing it to expire and hoped any new agreement would involve other parties.
“You probably want to get a couple of other players involved, also,” Trump told the New York Times.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday that any new arms control pact should include China, even though Beijing’s nuclear stockpile is dramatically smaller than that of the U.S. and Russia and any ceiling a deal might set would not be symmetrical to China’s arsenal.
“The president’s been clear in the past that in order to have true arms control in the 21st century, it’s impossible to do something that doesn’t include China, because of their vast and rapidly growing stockpile,” Rubio said.
Dmitry Peskov, the spokesperson for Russian President Vladimir Putin, confirmed the agreement was expiring Thursday.
“We view this negatively and regret this development,” he said, adding an offer from Putin to extend the deal went unanswered.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said his country would not take part in a trilateral arrangement.
“The nuclear forces of China and the U.S. are not on the same level at all, and it is neither fair nor reasonable to ask China to join the nuclear disarmament negotiations at this stage,” he said.
Last remaining arms control agreement
The New START treaty, which was struck between President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in 2010 and went into effect the following year, was the last remaining arms control pact in force between the two nations, limiting the deployment of nuclear-capable weapons systems like intercontinental ballistic missiles and bombers — and placing a limit on the number of nuclear warheads which could be activated.
The U.S. and Russia have remained under the numeric limits of the treaty, whose “whole value” is “to have predictability between the United States and Russia,” said Rose Gottemoeller, a former State Department official who served as America’s chief negotiator on New START.
The U.S. has accused Russia of violating the treaty after Moscow suspended inspection and verification mechanisms during the COVID-19 pandemic, but Washington never accused the Russians of failing to adhere to the limits.
“The fact of the legally binding treaty limits [itself] has placed the brakes on any Russian attempt to build up the deployed systems,” said Gottemoeller, adding the U.S. has intelligence capabilities to unilaterally understand whether Russia is breaking promises under the treaty.
In September, Russian President Vladimir Putin offered the U.S. a one-year extension of New START, which Trump initially called a “good idea.”
But the U.S. never officially responded, according to Yuri Ushakov, Putin’s foreign policy aide.
In a statement to ABC News, The White House said that “the President will decide the path forward on nuclear arms control, which he will clarify on his own timeline.”
Russia and China have demonstrated increasing nuclear capabilities in recent years, a NATO official told ABC News. For its part, Russia has adopted a “posture of strategic intimidation” in its nuclear rhetoric, the official added.
Putin has flexed Russia’s muscles on nuclear arms over the past year, touting emerging technologies like its Poseidon system, a nuclear-armed and nuclear-propelled torpedo that travels underwater. Tactical nuclear arms like the Poseidon system were not covered by New START’s provisions.
“Restraint and responsibility in the nuclear domain is crucial to global security,” the NATO official said.
A “handshake” agreement?
Putin’s offer in the fall amounted to what would be a “handshake between the two presidents to preserve the limits of the treaty” even after the treaty itself formally expired, said Gottemoeller, who was under secretary of state for arms control and international security when the deal was originally struck and later became NATO’s deputy secretary general.
While the administration has pointed to China as a reason to forgo New START in favor of a broader deal, Gottemoeller said a one-year stopgap deal would actually help the U.S. pursue its arms control agenda with Beijing.
A one-year extension “makes sense for one very important reason,” she said. “We need to keep the Russians under control over the coming year, while we try to plan and prepare for what we’re going to do to respond to the … Chinese nuclear buildup.”
Gottemoeller and Lynn Rusten, another former U.S. official who helped negotiate the New START treaty, told ABC News a trilateral deal with the Chinese would not make practical sense, since China’s 600 nuclear-capable weapons are dwarfed by Russian and American stockpiles that are each more than 4,000.
A Pentagon report in December assessed the Chinese stockpile could rise to more than 1,000 in 2030.
The State Department did not respond to an inquiry about diplomatic channels for new arms control agreements with either Beijing or Moscow.
The president, who said he had an “excellent” call Wednesday with Chinese President Xi Jinping, did not say whether nuclear arms were mentioned.
Change won’t be immediate
The early days of a world without the last remaining treaty limiting the world’s largest nuclear powers will not be immediately changed, the former officials said.
“I don’t think we’re going to wake up tomorrow and be in a completely different world,” said Rusten, who led the U.S. government’s interagency process during talks over New START. “But I do think there’s going to be some mirror imaging. So if one country starts to build up its forces beyond New START limits, the other is almost sure to follow.”
The U.S. will have to “plan and prepare” for the reality after New START, given the Russians have more experience and defense capacity — including “hot warhead production lines” in support of its war in Ukraine, said Gottemoeller.
Rusten said the U.S.’s understanding of Russia’s arsenal will “atrophy,” a risk over the long run.
“Over time, we’re going to have a less and less precise picture of exactly how many Russian nuclear forces there are and where they are,” she said.
The U.S. and Russia — and the U.S. and the Soviet Union before that — cooperated on arms control for decades, managing to carve out the issue from other diplomatic issues which frayed the rivals.
In a statement marking the end of New START, the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation said decades of diplomacy between Washington and Moscow “helped reduce the global nuclear arsenal by more than 80% since the height of the Cold War.”
“Now,” the statement said, “both Russia and the United States have no legal obstacle to building their arsenals back up, and we could find ourselves reliving the Cold War.”
(WASHINGTON) — High-profile races are unfolding across the country on Tuesday, including New York City’s mayoral election and governor’s races in New Jersey and Virginia.
In California, voters will consider a ballot measure that puts forth a redrawn congressional map that could net Democrats five House seats.
The elections come with high-stakes for both Democrats and Republicans, and will provide a picture of how Americans feel about President Donald Trump’s first nine months in office.
Here’s how the news is developing.
Obama on Democratic wins: ‘Future looks a little bit brighter’
Former President Barack Obama reacted to the flurry of Democratic wins on Tuesday, saying on X, “It’s a reminder that when we come together around strong, forward-looking leaders who care about the issues that matter, we can win. We’ve still got plenty of work to do, but the future looks a little bit brighter.”
-ABC News’ Brittany Shepherd
House Speaker Mike Johnson slams Mamdani after win
House Speaker Mike Johnson put out a statement criticizing Mamdani and the Democrats after his historic win.
Johnson said Mamdani’s win “cements” the Democratic Party’s “transformation to a radical, big-government socialist party.”
“Now, every House Democrat incumbent and candidate will co-own Mamdani’s disastrous record in the 2026 midterms,” he added.
-ABC News’ Lauren Peller
Mamdani posts video after winning mayoral election
Mamdani posted a short video on Bluesky after several outlets projected he would win the New York City mayoral election.
The video showed a subway door opening at the City Hall stop, with an announcement saying, “The next stop is City Hall.”
Sherrill: ‘I promise to listen, lead with courage and never forget who I serve’
As of 9:30 p.m. with 63% of the expected vote reporting, Democrat Mikie Sherrill is projected to win the New Jersey gubernatorial election against Republican Jack Ciattarelli, currently holding a more than 14-point lead (57% to 42.4%).
“New Jersey, it is the honor of my life to earn your trust to become this great state’s 57th Governor,” Sherrill said, celebrating her victory. “I promise to listen, lead with courage, and never forget who I serve.”
The former Navy pilot makes history as the first Democratic female governor of New Jersey. Former Republican Gov. Christine Todd Whitman, who served two terms from 1994 to 2001, was the state’s first female governor.
Sherrill’s victory breaks a notable trend in the state, as no party has controlled the New Jersey governor’s seat for three consecutive terms since the 1960s. Her Democratic governorship will immediately succeed current Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy’s back-to-back terms.
Tuesday’s results mark Ciattarelli’s third unsuccessful bid for governor. The former state assemblyman set his sights on the governor’s mansion in 2017, but failed to secure the Republican primary. He made it to the general election in 2021, but lost to Murphy by just 3 points.
Sherrill consistently led Ciattarelli in the polls throughout the course of the campaign, though their distance narrowed slightly in the days leading up to the election.
Ciattarelli’s loss comes as Republicans have tightened their margins in New Jersey in recent years, with Trump losing the state by just 6 points in 2024, compared to 16 points in 2020.
ABC News projects Democrat Zohran Mamdani will win the New York City mayoral election.
He is set to be the first the city’s Muslim mayor of south Asian descent.
ABC News projects Sherrill will win NJ governor race
ABC News projects Democrat Mikie Sherrill will win the New Jersey governor’s race against Republican Jack Ciattarelli, based on an analysis of the vote.
Ghazala Hashmi the first Muslim woman to win statewide office in US history
Democrat Ghazala Hashmi is the first Muslim woman to win statewide office in U.S. history.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) highlighted the historic moment.
“We hope this historic moment will inspire American Muslims to continue pursuing public service in Virginia and across the country,” the organization said in a statement.
-ABC News’ Brittany Shepherd
Trump adviser implies that Winsome Earle-Sears was a bad candidate
Following Spanberger’s victory in Virginia, Trump’s political adviser and 2024 co-campaign manager, Chris LaCivita, seemed to imply that Republican gubernatorial nominee Winsome Earle-Sears was a bad candidate.
“A Bad candidate and Bad campaign have consequences – the Virginia Governor’s race is example number 1,” LaCivita posted on X.
LaCivita’s post comes after a tele-rally Monday night for Virginia’s Republican candidates, during which Trump did not mention Earle-Sears by name.
-ABC News’ Hannah Demissie
Sherrill continues to lead with 41% of the expected vote in
As of 9:01 p.m., with 41% of the expected vote in, Democrat Mikie Sherrill continues to lead against Republican Jack Ciattarelli by just over 14 points (56.7% to 42.4%) in the New Jersey governor’s race.
This comes after a judge ruled for a one-hour extension of some Passaic County polling centers due to unfounded bomb threats earlier Tuesday. As of 9 p.m., all New Jersey polls are now closed.
Spanberger on historic projected victory
While surrounded by her daughters during her victory speech, Abigail Spanberger remarked on the historic nature of her projected win in Virginia.
She said ahead of her speech that her husband said to their daughters, “Your mom’s going to be the governor of Virginia.”
“I can guarantee those words have never been spoken in Virginia ever before,” she said.
“It’s a big deal that the girls and the young women I have met along the campaign trail now know with certainty that they can achieve anything,” she continued.
Polls close in New York City
Polls are now closed in New York City, where the mayoral race has garnered national attention.
NYC turnout surpasses 56-year record
With 15 minutes left until polls close, over 2 million New York City voters cast a ballot for this year’s race, according to the city’s Board of Elections.
This surpasses the 1.9 million votes cast in 1993 and 1989. The last time the tally surpassed 2 million votes was in 1969, according to the BOE.
Majority of independent voters, women backed Sherrill: Exit poll
A preliminary exit poll analysis by ABC News shed more light on the turnout in the New Jersey governor’s race.
Over half of independents support Democrat Mikie Sherrill and she had the support of roughly 6 in 10 New Jersey female voters, according to preliminary exit poll data.
Roughly half of male voters in the state supported Republican Jack Ciatterelli, the preliminary analysis found.
A majority of New Jersey voters under 45 supported Sherrill according to early exit polling, while those 45 and older roughly split their votes roughly evenly between the Democratic and Republican candidates for governor, according to the data.
-ABC News’ Emily Guskin
‘Tonight we sent a message’: Spanberger
During her victory speech in the Virginia governor’s race, Abigail Spanberger told the cheering crowd, “Tonight we sent a message.”
The message to Virginia, the country and the world, she said, is that Virginia “chose pragmatism over partisanship.”
“We chose our commonwealth over chaos,” she said. “You all chose leadership that will focus relentlessly on what matters most — lowering costs, keeping our communities safe and strengthening our economy for every Virginian.”
She said she intends to serve all Virginians.
“I have worked with anyone and everyone, regardless of political party, to deliver results for the people that I serve, and that’s because I believe in this idea that there is so much more that unites us as Virginians and as Americans than divides us,” she said.
Voting extended in NJ county after unfounded bomb threats
Polls will remain open in parts of Passaic County, New Jersey, after unfounded bomb threats earlier in the day halted voting at locations across the northern part of the state, a judge ruled late Tuesday.
Voters will be allowed to cast their ballots until 9 p.m. ET at three schools in the Paterson area of Passaic County, which has been a swing county in recent cycles.
-ABC News’ Jared Kofsky, Olivia Rubin and Lucien Bruggeman
Polls close in New Jersey
Polls are now closed in New Jersey, one of only two states holding gubernatorial races this November. The race tightened in the run-up to Election Day.
ABC News projects Spanberger will win Virginia governor’s race
ABC News projects Democrat Abigail Spanberger will win the Virginia governor’s race, based on an analysis of the vote.
Polls now closed in Virginia
Polls are now closed in Virginia, where there is a closely watched governor’s race.
New Jersey voters focused on taxes and economy: Exit polls
Taxes and the economy are the most important issues for New Jersey voters, according to a preliminary exit poll analysis by ABC News.
Most New Jersey voters said the economy in the state was doing “not so good” or “poor,” and that property taxes were “a major problem” where they live, according to the analysis.
Most New Jersey voters also said electricity costs where they live are “a major problem,” according to the analysis.
-ABC News’ Emily Guskin
Kentucky election official informs state voters there is no election this year following complaints
Election officials in Kentucky felt compelled to address a surprising complaint from some constituents on Tuesday: Why are polling places closed?
The answer? There aren’t any elections in Kentucky.
That didn’t keep some voters in the state from flocking to polling places, only to be disappointed to learn that they could not vote for high-profile races in Virginia and New York, according to Kentucky Secretary of State Michael Adams.
“We’re getting calls about polls being closed. They are closed because we do not have elections today,” he wrote on X. “Kentucky votes next year. You cannot vote today in Kentucky for the mayor of New York City or the Governor of Virginia. Sorry.”
-ABC News’ Lucien Bruggeman
NYC voters are concerned about the cost of living: Exit poll
More than half of voters in New York City said Tuesday that the cost of living was the most important issue facing the city, dwarfing the other issues measured in preliminary ABC News exit polling.
-ABC News’ Emily Guskin
Schumer refuses to say who he voted for in NYC mayoral election
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer dodged a question by a reporter who asked if he voted for Mamdani or Cuomo in the election.
“Look I voted, and I Iook forward to working with the next mayor to help New York City,” he said before taking another question.
Schumer has not publicly supported Mamdani since he won the Democratic primary in June.
-ABC News’ Lauren Peller
NYC 2025 vote surpasses 20-year high, with hours to go until polls close
As of 3 p.m. ET, roughly 1.4 million New York voters have cast a ballot in this year’s elections, with six hours before polls close marking the highest turnout for a city election in 20 years, the city’s Board of Elections said.
Roughly 1.1 million voters cast a ballot in the 2021 election, according to city BOE data.
The last time a city election vote exceeded 1.3 million was in 2005, when Michael Bloomberg was re-elected to a second term, according to BOE records.
Of the 1.4 million cast so far in 2025, 716,625 votes, about 49%, were cast on Tuesday, while the remaining were cast at early voting polling sites.
NYC 2025 vote surpasses 2021 total, halfway through the day
As of 3 p.m. ET, roughly 1.4 million New York voters have cast a ballot in this year’s elections, with six hours before polls close, the city’s Board of Elections said.
Roughly 1.1 million voters cast a ballot in the 2021 election, according to city BOE data.
Of the 1.4 million cast so far in 2025, 716,625 votes, about 49%, were cast on Tuesday, while the remaining were cast at early voting polling sites.
‘Another baseless claim,’ California officials dismiss Trump
The California secretary of state slammed President Donald Trump over his unfounded claims about the state’s election.
Secretary of State Shirley Weber said in a statement that Trump’s comments appeared to be “another baseless claim”– and urged voters to head to the polls.
“California voters will not be deceived by someone who consistently makes desperate, unsubstantiated attempts to dissuade Americans from participating in our democracy,” she said.
Additionally, a spokesperson for the state’s attorney general said that Trump is “continuing to spread lies,” adding that elections in California are “fair, safe, and secure.”
-ABC News’ Olivia Rubin
Trump says California redistricting vote is under ‘criminal review’
After President Donald Trump wrote in a social media post that California’s Proposition 50 should be under “very serious legal and criminal review,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the White House is “looking into” providing “executive action.”
“The White House is working on an executive order to strengthen our elections in this country, and to ensure that there cannot be blatant fraud, as we’ve seen in California with their universal mail-in voting system. It’s absolutely true that there’s fraud in California elections. It’s just a fact,” Leavitt told reporters on Tuesday.
Leavitt’s comments come after Trump laid into the proposal — where Californians are deciding if the state will adopt a new Democratic-friendly congressional map in response to mid-decade redistricting in Texas — calling it a “GIANT SCAM.”
“The Unconstitutional Redistricting Vote in California is a GIANT SCAM in that the entire process, in particular the Voting itself, is RIGGED. All ‘Mail-In’ Ballots, where the Republicans in that State are ‘Shut Out,’ is under very serious legal and criminal review. STAY TUNED!” Trump wrote in a social media post on Tuesday.
2 hours and 49 minutes ago
Trump has made his thoughts on NYC mayoral election ‘quite clear,’ White House says White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that President Donald Trump has made his thoughts on the New York City mayoral election “quite clear.”
“The president is a New Yorker, and he loves New York. He has made his thoughts on this election quite clear,” Leavitt said.
Leavitt also addressed Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani’s comments accusing the Trump administration of attempting to “intimidate voters with baseless allegations of voter fraud,” saying his comments are “based on zero evidence.”
“I think this is just another example of how the Democratic Party unfortunately stands for nothing. All they stand against is President Donald Trump, and I think it’s quite sad to see that we have someone at the top of the ticket on election day today saying such things about the president, when he obviously had nothing to do with those threats,” Leavitt said on Tuesday.
On Tuesday, Mamdani addressed reports of voter intimidation in New Jersey, saying these incident are “incredibly concerning.”
“I think that it is an illustration of the attacks we’re seeing in our democracy,” he continued, accusing the Trump administration of adopting a “general approach” of attempting to “intimidate voters with baseless allegations of voter fraud as a means of trying to repress the voice of Americans across this country,” Mamdani said.
Trump endorsed Cuomo on Monday in a social media post. “Whether you personally like Andrew Cuomo or not, you really have no choice. You must vote for him, and hope he does a fantastic job,” Trump wrote.
3 hours and 50 minutes ago
Trump and Newsom square off on Prop 50
President Donald Trump and California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom are sparring over the vote on Proposition 50, the ballot proposition where Californians are deciding if the state will adopt a new Democratic-friendly congressional map in response to mid-decade redistricting in Texas.
On social media, Trump laid into the proposal as a “GIANT SCAM” and that voting process itself is “rigged.”
“The Unconstitutional Redistricting Vote in California is a GIANT SCAM in that the entire process, in particular the Voting itself, is RIGGED. All ‘Mail-In’ Ballots, where the Republicans in that State are ‘Shut Out,’ is under very serious legal and criminal review. STAY TUNED!” Trump wrote.
Newsom hit back on X: “The ramblings of an old man that knows he’s about to LOSE.”
Democrats feel particularly bullish about their chances in California tonight.
-ABC News’ Brittany Shepherd
3 hours and 58 minutes ago
GOP groups attack Mamdani, attempt to link him to broader Democratic Party
As voters head to the polls, various Republican groups have released statements and memos attacking New York City Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani, as the Republican Party continues to tie the self-described democratic socialist to the broader Democratic Party as a way to paint Democrats as radical and out of touch.
The messaging, while not new, reflects how the Republican Party hopes to use Mamdani as an albatross against Democrats.
The National Republican Congressional Committee, in a memo released on Tuesday morning framing Republicans as having more momentum one year out to the 2026 midterms, claimed that Democrats are fully on board with “the socialist agenda.”
“Democrats are now fully embracing the socialist agenda, with Hakeem Jeffries endorsing radical socialist Zohran Mamdani just last week,” the committee wrote, calling this “electoral poison for Democrats” because Democrats view socialism more negatively than capitalism.
Additionally, the National Republican Senatorial Committee — the campaign arm of Senate Republicans — sent out a flurry of at least seven memos early Tuesday tying Democratic primary candidates in key Senate races to Mamdani.
In a press release on Monday, the Republican National Convention grouped Mamdani with the two Democratic gubernatorial candidates in New Jersey and Virginia, saying they “are all cut from the same far-left cloth.”
-ABC News’ Oren Oppenheim, Brittany Shepherd and Emily Chang
12:05 PM EST
Cuomo says Trump ‘does not support me’ but ‘opposes Zohran Mamdani’
While casting his vote for himself on Tuesday morning, independent candidate for mayor of New York City and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo said President Donald Trump does not support him but “opposes Zohran Mamdani.”
“The president does not support me. The president opposes Zohran Mamdani,” Cuomo said when asked if he accepts Trump’s recent endorsement.
Cuomo was also asked what’s at stake nationally in this election, to which he told reporters, “I think what you’re seeing is a civil war in the Democratic Party that has been growing for a while.”
The former governor said Trump believes Mamdani is an “existential threat” and that the “momentum is on our side.”
-ABC News’ Halle Troadec
11:27 AM EST
Vance urges support for New Jersey GOP gubernatorial candidate Ciattarelli as race tightens
Vice President JD Vance urged voters in New Jersey to cast their vote for Republican gubernatorial candidate Jack Ciattarelli, as the race tightens between Ciattarelli and the Democrats’ pick, former Navy helicopter pilot Mikie Sherrill.
“Get out there and vote for Jack if you live in NJ. New Jersey is such a great state but it’s suffered too long under crap leadership,” Vance wrote on Tuesday.
According to a Quinnipiac poll, Ciattarelli is lagging Sherill only by single digits in the race, with Sherill leading Ciatttarelli by 8 points in the full ballot matchup.
Former President Barack Obama has previously endorsed Sherill, saying her “integrity, grit and commitment to service are what we need right now in our leaders.”
In addition to being backed by Vance, Ciattarelli also boasts the support of President Donald Trump.
-ABC News’ Hannah Demissie
11:10 AM EST
Implications of NYC’s mayoral race stretch beyond the Big Apple
While New Yorkers are focused on solving key issues of affordability and public safety, the implications of the mayoral race could stretch beyond the five boroughs.
This local off-year election has garnered national attention and is considered representative of political headwinds ahead of the 2026 midterms. Candidates are zeroed in on navigating the impacts of President Donald Trump’s second term, and Zohran Mamdani’s candidacy has shed light on how the Democratic Party has struggled to balance its progressive and moderate sides.
-ABC News’ Emily Chang
10:49 AM EST
Cuomo votes, calls Trump ‘pragmatic’ for encouraging Republicans to back him
Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who appeared to cast his ballot at a polling place on the East Side of Manhattan on Tuesday morning, called President Donald Trump “pragmatic” for encouraging Republican voters to support him in the New York City mayoral election, instead of the GOP nominee, Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa, to blunt a victory for Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani.
“President Trump is pragmatic. He is telling them the reality of the situation, which is, if you do not vote, Mamdani is going to win. Who is Mamdani? I don’t know, but he’s a Democratic socialist that brings socialism to New York City. New York City will not thrive with a socialist economy,” Cuomo, who is running as an independent, said on Fox News on Tuesday. “So Republicans, you have to get up and come out and vote. Even if you’re not voting for a Republican, you’re voting to save New York City.”
Cuomo went on to say that Mamdani’s campaign promises to lower costs and expand government resources — by freezing the rent temporarily on rent stabilized units, providing government-run grocery stores and free city busses — is “all BS.”
“It’s not up to the mayor. It’s up to the state. State said they’re not going to do it. It’s all BS, it’s all campaign rhetoric. None of it will change anybody’s life,” Cuomo argued.
-ABC News’ Brittany Shepherd
10:37 AM EST
Mikie Sherrill says there’s ‘no credible’ threats to New Jersey voting
Accompanied by her husband and children, New Jersey’s Democratic nominee for governor Mikie Sherrill appeared at a Montclair voting center to cast her ballot and address the press.
Sherrill sought to assure voters that it is currently safe to cast ballots throughout the state, after multiple polling places temporarily closed in northern New Jersey after precincts fielded emailed bomb threats later deemed to be not credible, prompting election officials to direct some voters to other polling places.
“We’ve checked out all the bomb threats. There are no credible ones yet. Law enforcement is working overtime to keep our elections safe, so I don’t see any threat to voting,” Sherrill said. She called the scare an “attempt to suppress the vote.”
-ABC News’ Emily Chang and Lucien Bruggeman
10:24 AM EST
Mamdani casts his ballot: ‘We are on the brink of making history’
Just moments after casting his ballot on the morning of Election Day, New York City mayoral Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani proudly branded an “I voted” sticker and emphasized his vision to “usher in a new era in this city.”
“Today is Election Day. It is a day that we have been dreaming of for more than a year,” he began. “We are on the brink of making history in our city, on the brink of saying goodbye to a politics of the past.”
Mamdani emphasized his platform centered on affordability, touting his plan to “transform the most expensive city of the United States of America into one that’s affordable for each and every person that calls it home.”
Asked by ABC News’ Aaron Katersky on what he would say to New Yorkers concerned that President Donald Trump will follow through on his threats, Mamdani reiterated his resolve to stand up to Trump and argued that the president’s words sometimes hold no weight.
“I look forward to representing those New Yorkers, and look forward to fighting for every single dollar this city is owed. What we see in the language of Donald Trump is a premise, as if it is his decision on whether or not to fund the city the very money that this city is owed … That means using the courts, that means using the bully pulpit, that means ensuring that we actually follow the letter of the law,” he said.
Mamdani is facing off against former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat who is running as an independent, and Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa, along with some other independent and third-party candidates.
-ABC News’ Emily Chang
10:13 AM EST
Voters head to polls in 1st major elections of Trump 2.0
It’s Election Day in America, and voters across the country are heading to the polls in statewide and local elections.
It’s the first major election cycle since President Donald Trump’s return to the White House. The results from Tuesday’s races will give voters an opportunity to weigh in on the state of the country and their communities.
Trump joined election eve tele-rallies supporting Republican candidates in Virginia and New Jersey, where he focused on energy costs and crime. He also threw out an eleventh-hour endorsement in New York City’s mayoral election, urging voters to support Andrew Cuomo over Zohran Mamdani.
