It’s Election Day In America. Here’s Everything You Need To Know.

Election Day is today, and the handful of races we’re watching will impact everything from the 2026 midterms to the 2028 presidential cycle.

But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. The Daily Wire will have coast-to-coast coverage from now until the last race is called. From East Coast gubernatorial battles to West Coast redistricting fights, you can count on us to bring up-to-the-minute insight on the polls, the candidates, and voter turnout on our site and Election Day Liveblog.

To kick things off, here’s everything you need to know about the races we’ll be watching.

Virginia

Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears is running against former Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger. Republican John Reid is running against Democrat Ghazala Hashmi for Lt. Gov., and Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares is running against Democrat Jay Jones. Vrginians will also elect members to the Virginia House of Delegates, which currently has a 51-48 Democratic majority.

The races have focused largely on issues such as immigration, education, taxes and public safety. Many polls show Spanberger leading Earle-Sears, and the Attorney General’s race as a complete toss-up.

However, the attorney general’s race became the focal point of the statewide races after Jones was revealed to have sent text messages suggesting violence against former Republican House of Delegates Speaker Todd Gilbert in 2022.

“Three people, two bullets. Gilbert, Hitler, and Pol Pot. Gilbert gets two bullets to the head,” Jones wrote in one of the texts. Jones has since apologized for the comments, but the controversy led to questions about whether Spanberger would still back Jones.

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“We are all running our individual races,” Spanberger said during a debate when asked if she was still backing Jones.

Speaking to The Daily Wire on the eve of the election, Earle-Sears pitched herself as the common sense candidate, and predicted she would carry the state because voters crave safety and security. She also slammed Spanberger for attempting to run as a moderate while voting with the extreme wing of the Democrat Party while in Congress, and for refusing to denounce Jones and pull her endorsement.

“Abigail Spanberger cannot be governor,” she said. “She’s politically calculating and cunning. I used to think it was cowardice but I see now, no — she wants power, she wants control, and so she refuses to say the right thing which is to tell Jay Jones to get out of the race.”

Former Vice President Kamala Harris won the state in 2024, and former President Joe Biden won it in 2020, but Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin, Earle-Sears and Miyares won in 2021.

New Jersey

Democratic Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill and Republican Jack Ciattarelli are in a tightening race to replace Democrat Governor Phil Murphy.

Ciattarelli ran against Murphy in 2021 and came close at 48% to Murphy’s just over 51%. President Donald Trump has vocally endorsed the Republican, including calling on the Orthodox Jewish community to back him over the weekend.

“I need ALL of my supporters in the Orthodox community in Lakewood and its surrounding towns to vote in HUGE numbers for Jack Ciattarelli. Jack will be a GREAT Governor, and has my Complete and Total Endorsement — He will never let you down!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

“Jack needs every single Vote in the community, including all the Yeshiva students who turned out to vote for me last year. Your Votes in this Election will save New Jersey, a State that is near and dear to my heart,” he added.

In a wide-ranging interview with The Daily Wire, Ciattarelli said that “people want change across the state,” and he’s the answer, pledging to reduce energy prices, restore public order by cracking down on crime, and roll back New Jersey’s sanctuary state policies.

As for Sherrill, one of her key campaign points is to declare a state of emergency in hopes of “freezing” utility rate increases. Ciattarelli has scrutinized the idea, instead proposing ending the state’s participation in a carbon tax as a way to lower bills for New Jerseyans, according to the New Jersey Monitor.

New York City

The New York City mayoral race has become a national phenomenon with the three-way contest between Democrat Zohran Mamdani, Republican Curtis Sliwa, and former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who lost the Democratic primary but is now in the race as an independent.

More than 735,000 New Yorkers have turned out for early voting, marking a record turnout. The Daily Wire’s Jennie Taer has a helpful breakdown of the latest polling here.

Polling has consistently shown Mamdani ahead, and he’s become known for socialist policy proposals including freezing rent, grocery stores owned by the local government, and scrapping bus fares.

According to his platform, he also wants the minimum wage in the city to increase to $30 by the year 2030.

As for Cuomo, the campaign has served as an attempt at a political comeback following his resignation over sexual harassment allegations in 2021.

His successor, Gov. Kathy Hochul, has backed Mamdani instead, as Trump said in a “60 Minutes” interview that he’s “not a fan of Cuomo one way or the other, but if it’s going to be between a bad Democrat and a communist, I’m going to pick the bad Democrat all the time to be honest with you.”

As for Sliwa, the Guardian Angels founder has campaigned on cracking down on crime and housing policy reforms.

“My plan to save NYC starts day one. I’ll make city agencies work efficiently to keep communities safe, clean, and affordable. I’ll fund every precinct to lower crime, improve schools, protect the SHSAT, and lower the cost of living. I’ll be the mayor who helps you stay here and builds a future better than ever for all of us,” Sliwa posted to X on Sunday.

California

Proposition 50 would give the state permission to redraw congressional district maps until 2030 in order to favor Democrats. The move was put forward by leading Democrats in the state to counteract a move by Texas to redraw their maps to favor Republicans.

According to the California Secretary of State’s website, the “pro” argument is that it “approves temporary, emergency congressional district maps to counter Donald Trump’s scheme to rig next year’s congressional election and reaffirms California’s commitment to independent, nonpartisan redistricting after the next census.”

On the side against the ballot measure, the argument is that the proposition is “dismantling safeguards that keep elections fair, removes requirements to keep local communities together, and eliminates voter protections that ban maps designed to favor political parties” and says it was “written by politicians, for politicians.”

The “no” side has been significantly outspent by proponents of the measure, which includes Gov. Gavin Newsom and Rep. Nancy Pelosi, former Speaker of the House. Donors include insurance giant Blue Shield of California, which gave $500,000 to Newsom’s ballot measure committee, The Daily Wire reported last week.

“If Texas had backed off, California would have backed off,” Pelosi wrote last week on X. “But Trump insisted on Texas starting this fight — so California will meet this moment and win BIG on Tuesday to defend our health care and our democracy.”

Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-CA) wrote on X on Monday that Californians should “Vote NO because voters, not politicians, should choose the destiny of our state.”

“Vote NO because each and every citizen deserves fair representation. Vote NO because California is worth fighting for,” he added.

Polling has indicated that the proposition will pass, as opponents have attributed the partisan language of the ballot measure to its potential success.