Americans go to the polls, with elections in New York City, New Jersey, Virginia and California
We are restarting our live coverage of US politics.
Americans are heading to the polls on Tuesday in a number of elections that will show where support for Donald Trump’s Republicans stands and whether Democrats have cause for hope.
Much attention in the US and abroad will be on Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic candidate for New York City mayor, who is facing off against former New York governor Andrew Cuomo, who is running as an independent after losing the Democratic primary against Mamdani earlier this year, and Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa.
In California, voters could tear up their congressional maps to turn Republican districts into Democratic ones in an effort to counter gains the GOP is expected to make elsewhere after the party gerrymandered maps in states including Texas and Missouri.
Virginia and New Jersey will hold high-stakes gubernatorial and legislative elections that may serve as a proxy for voters’ views on the president.
We will bring you the latest news and reactions as election day unfolds.
Share
Updated at 09.18 EST
Key events
Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature
Mamdani casts his ballot in Queens
Democratic nominee for New York mayor and frontrunner, Zohran Mamdani, has cast his ballot at a high school in Astoria, Queens. He was joined by his wife, Rama Sawaf Duwaj. Mamdani told reporters at the polling site that he voted for himself, and “yes” on several housing proposals that are also on the ballot – including one which fast tracks the development of affordable housing projects in the city.
Share
Law enforcement responds to bomb threats at New Jersey polling sites
Jake Wasserman
Voters in New Jersey are starting their election day with a notice posted by the state’s attorney general Matt Platkin about bomb threats in seven counties. There is now a razor thin margin in the race between congresswoman Mikie Sherril and businessman Jack Ciattarelli in the closely watched gubernatorial race, and disruptions to normal voting procedures could prove consequential.
Law enforcement is currently investigating and counties have already reopened some locations, while relocating others.
Share
Updated at 09.24 EST
Former president George W Bush pays tribute to his late VP Dick Cheney
Former President George W Bush, under whose administration Dick Cheney served two terms as vice-president, has issued a statement following Cheney’s death.
“History will remember him as among the finest public servants of his generation – a patriot who brought integrity, high intelligence, and seriousness of purpose to every position he held,” Bush said.
Bush recalled that he asked Cheney to join his ticket in 2000 after “enlisting him to help me find the best running mate”.
“In our long discussions about the qualities a vice-president should have – deep experience, mature judgment, character, loyalty – I realised that Dick Cheney was the one I needed,” Bush added. “I’m still grateful that he was at my side for the eight years that followed. Dick was a calm and steady presence in the White House amid great national challenges. I counted on him for his honest, forthright counsel, and he never failed to give his best. He held to his convictions and prioritized the freedom and security of the American people.”
Share
Donald Trump has no scheduled events today, per his official schedule. However, he has already posted on Truth Social, recirculating his new passion project – the elimination of the filibuster. This is the 60-vote threshold needed in Congress to end debate in the Senate and bring a bill to a vote. It’s the procedural measure that has inhibited passing a short term funding bill to keep the government open.
“It will be impossible for Republicans to get Common Sense Policies done with these Crazed Democrat Lunatics being able to block everything by withholding their votes,” Trump wrote in his post a short while ago.
He ended his post with his signature all-caps insistence:
TERMINATE THE FILIBUSTER NOW, END THE RIDICULOUS SHUTDOWN IMMEDIATELY, AND THEN, MOST IMPORTANTLY, PASS EVERY WONDERFUL REPUBLICAN POLICY THAT WE HAVE DREAMT OF, FOR YEARS, BUT NEVER GOTTEN. WE WILL BE THE PARTY THAT CANNOT BE BEATEN – THE SMART PARTY!!!
Later, we will hear from White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt at 1pm ET, when she holds a briefing with reporters.
Share
Trump isn’t on any of the cards today, but his presidency and policies are one of the key things people are voting on.
Democrats in the governor races in Virginia and New Jersey have made opposing the president key to their campaigns. The results may reveal what depth of opposition there is among voters.
Trump also gave a reluctant 11th-hour endorsement to former New York governor Cuomo over the Democratic nominee Mamdani in the New York City mayoral race last night, saying “whether you personally like Andrew Cuomo or not, you really have no choice… (Cuomo) is capable of it, Mamdani is not!”
Mamdani, a rising star, has already been a target of Trump’s criticism.
Share
Updated at 08.17 EST
Dick Cheney criticized Donald Trump and said he would vote for Kamala Harris in 2024 presidential election
Given today’s polls, it is interesting to note too Cheney’s politics in his last years where he was a fierce critic of Donald Trump, particularly after the January 6 riots.
The once stalwart of Republican politics said in the 2024 president election that he would vote for Kamala Harris – having previously described Trump with the line: “There has never been an individual who was a greater threat to our republic.”
His daughter Liz Cheney had been the leading Republican critic and examiner of Trump’s efforts to stay in office after his 2020 election defeat, and the Capitol riot.
In 2022, he expressed “deep disappointment” in Republican party leadership, saying: “It’s not a leadership that resembles any of the folks that I knew when I was here for 10 years” and that “you can’t overestimate how important (January 6) is”.
Trump dismissed Cheney’s criticism last year, calling him an “irrelevant RINO” – Republican in name only. The current US president is yet to issue a comment on Cheney’s death.
Share
Updated at 07.50 EST
Cheney’s legacy marked by Iraq invasion
Martin Pengelly
Cheney was one of the most powerful vice-presidents, widely reported to wield great influence over the less experienced Bush.
In office on 11 September 2001, he took charge after the attacks on New York and Washington while Bush was hurried to safety. Hugely experienced and with no department to run, working with the defense secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, an ally from the days of Nixon and Ford, he assumed policy control.
He believed the Bush administration “had an obligation to do whatever it took to defend America”.
Troops were soon in Afghanistan, fighting the Taliban and hunting al-Qaida. But Cheney’s place in history will be dominated by the decision to invade Iraq.
He was defense secretary during the first Gulf war, in 1990 and 1991, a swift campaign to eject Saddam Hussein from Kuwait. A decade later, Bush and Cheney’s public rationale for war was that the Iraqi dictator was linked to al-Qaida and thus 9/11, and possessed weapons of mass destruction. By March 2003, when US and coalition forces invaded, no proof had been found for either charge. They were soon proved false.
By February 2021, the official US death toll in Iraq was 4,431, with nearly 32,000 wounded. The toll in Afghanistan, where US troops still fought, was 2,352 with more than 20,000 wounded.
Analysts say since 2001 “at least 800,000 people have been killed by direct war violence in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, and Pakistan”.
Read more about Dick Cheney’s legacy here.
Share
Updated at 08.22 EST
Former US vice-president Dick Cheney dies aged 84 – family statement
The former US vice-president, Dick Cheney, has died aged 84, according to a family statement.
“Richard B. Cheney, the 46th Vice President of the United States, died last night, November 3, 2025. He was 84 years old,” Cheney’s family said in a statement quoted by The Hill and other media outlets.
“His beloved wife of 61 years, Lynne, his daughters, Liz and Mary, and other family members were with him as he passed. The former Vice President died due to complications of pneumonia and cardiac and vascular disease.”
“For decades, Dick Cheney served our nation, including as White House Chief of Staff, Wyoming’s Congressman, Secretary of Defense, and Vice President of the United States.
“Dick Cheney was a great and good man who taught his children and grandchildren to love our country, and to live lives of courage, honor, love, kindness, and fly fishing. We are grateful beyond measure for all Dick Cheney did for our country. And we are blessed beyond measure to have loved and been loved by this noble giant of a man.”
Cheney, the vice-president to former Republican President George W Bush between 2001 and 2009, was a key architect of the so-called “war on terror” after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and an early advocate of the invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Share
Updated at 06.47 EST
US government shutdown ties record for longest in American history
The US government shutdown on Tuesday entered its 35th day, matching a record set during Donald Trump’s first term for the longest in history.
The last shutdown, which started in December 2018 and was brought about by disagreements over money to fund a wall along the US-Mexico border, lasted 35 days – the longest in American history (up until that point).
The toll of the current shutdown on ordinary Americans increases by the day. Food assistance for the poor has been halted for the first time and federal workers – from airports to law enforcement and the military – are going unpaid.
The Senate has voted more than a dozen times against a House of Representatives-passed stopgap funding measure, and no lawmakers have changed their position.
Trump’s Republicans hold a 53-47 majority in the Senate but need votes from at least seven Democrats to meet the chamber’s 60-vote threshold for most legislation.
Democrats are withholding their votes to extract an extension of some healthcare insurance subsidies.
Share
Republicans and Democrats have entered a war in legislatures and courts to narrow the political battlefield of 2026 before a single vote is cast.
Normally, redistricting only occurs after the US census counts residents in each state every 10 years. A demand from Donald Trump to lock in more Republican-leaning districts in Congress, together with a changing legal landscape around partisan gerrymandering, set off a chain of mid-decade reapportionments.
Republicans hold control of the US House with a 219-213 margin, one of the smallest majorities in American history.
Three representatives have died in office – two Democrats and a Republican – who have yet to be replaced. Each was in a district considered safe for their party. The Democrat Adelita Grijalva of Arizona has won election but, controversially, has not yet been seated.
The Guardian’s George Chidi and Andrew Witherspoon used data from the Cook Political Report and local media to tabulate the aspirations of leaders in each state where redistricting before the 2026 midterms has been contemplated.
Share
Recent polling suggests that Democratic candidate Zohran Mamdani has at least a 10 point lead over his opponents in the mayoral race: independent candidate, Andrew Cuomo, and Republican candidate, Curtis Sliwa.
Atlas Intel poll ending 30 October shows Mamdani leading with 41% in support, compared to Cuomo with 34% support and Sliwa getting 24% support.
Share
Trump reluctantly backs Cuomo for New York City mayor
Donald Trump has reluctantly endorsed Andrew Cuomo’s bid for the New York mayoralty.
Cuomo, the former Democratic New York governor and a long-term Trump critic, is running as an independent candidate after losing the party’s primary to Zohran Mamdani, who will become the city’s first Muslim mayor and its youngest in more than 100 years if he wins.
“If Communist Candidate Zohran Mamdani wins the Election for Mayor of New York City, it is highly unlikely that I will be contributing Federal Funds, other than the very minimum as required, to my beloved first home,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social. “I don’t want to send, as President, good money after bad.”
Trump’s comments echo those broadcast on Sunday during his appearance on CBS’s 60 minutes, in which he said: “It’s gonna be hard for me as the president to give a lot of money to New York, because if you have a communist running New York, all you’re doing is wasting the money you’re sending there.”
Mamdani has said that if Cuomo wins, he would be a “puppet” for Trump. “I think what scares me in this moment is the prospect of Donald Trump’s puppet becoming the (mayor),” he told NBC News.
Share
Updated at 05.39 EST
Former US president Barack Obama has offered to be a “sounding board” to New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani if his polling advantage turns into victory, according to reports.
Obama reportedly also praised the campaign Mamdani had run against his main independent rival, former New York governor Andrew Cuomo, and the Republican nominee, Curtis Sliwa. The call was first reported by the New York Times and then confirmed to Reuters by Mamdani’s spokesperson.
“Zohran Mamdani appreciated President Obama’s words of support and their conversation on the importance of bringing a new kind of politics to our city,” Mamdani’s spokesperson, Dora Pekec, said.
Mamdani, a state assembly member, has polled well ahead of Cuomo and Sliwa before Tuesday’s general election. A recent Atlas poll estimated Mamdani (40%) had about a six-point edge over Cuomo (34%) and a 16-point advantage over Sliwa (24%).
Share
Updated at 05.22 EST
Why might California redraw its congressional maps?
Chris Stein
Texas redrew their maps to favor Republicans at Trump’s urging, one of several states that the president has pushed to use partisan gerrymanders to help the GOP hold seats in the House of Representatives in next year’s midterm elections.
For various reasons, only a handful of Democratic-led states can redraw their maps to offset the expected Republican gains, with California offering the best opportunity.
Because the state has an independent redistricting commission, voters will be asked to approve proposition 50, which would enact a new map that could allow Democrats to pick up five more House seats.
Backed by governor Gavin Newsom, polls have shown the proposition with a strong lead.
Share
Why is Zohran Mamdani such a big deal?
Chris Stein
New York City has probably the most high-profile mayor in the country, and in June, Mamdani, a 34-year-old state assemblyman and democratic socialist, won the Democratic primary in an upset over former governor Andrew Cuomo.
Though Cuomo remains in the race as an independent, polls show Mamdani with a formidable lead, and if he wins, his brand of left-wing politics will be given a prominent platform.
Share
Anna Betts
On Monday, the candidates for New York City mayor spent a frantic final day campaigning across the city. Zohran Mamdani, the frontrunner, whose campaign has been centered on affordability, has maintained a commanding lead, with most polls showing him leading by double digits.
The 34-year-old Democratic nominee, a state assembly member from Queens, began his Monday walking across the Brooklyn Bridge at sunrise. He was joined by the New York attorney general, Letitia James; the city comptroller, Brad Lander; as well as several city and state lawmakers and throngs of supporters.
He finished the walk at city hall, where he told a news conference that “we stand on the verge of ushering in a new day for our city”, and was scheduled to join volunteers before they began a final day of canvassing in Astoria, Queens, later in the day.
Andrew Cuomo, the former Democratic governor running as an independent after losing to Mamdani in June’s primary, kicked off the last day of the campaign with an interview on the Spanish-language radio station La Mega before heading to a campaign stop in the Bronx. He reportedly planned to visit all five boroughs on Monday.
Running a distant third has been Curtis Sliwa, the Republican candidate and founder of the Guardian Angels, a non-profit organization dedicated to “unarmed crime prevention”. According to social media, Sliwa spent part of Monday morning at Coney Island and was set to host a tele-rally in the evening.
Share
Americans go to the polls, with elections in New York City, New Jersey, Virginia and California
We are restarting our live coverage of US politics.
Americans are heading to the polls on Tuesday in a number of elections that will show where support for Donald Trump’s Republicans stands and whether Democrats have cause for hope.
Much attention in the US and abroad will be on Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic candidate for New York City mayor, who is facing off against former New York governor Andrew Cuomo, who is running as an independent after losing the Democratic primary against Mamdani earlier this year, and Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa.
In California, voters could tear up their congressional maps to turn Republican districts into Democratic ones in an effort to counter gains the GOP is expected to make elsewhere after the party gerrymandered maps in states including Texas and Missouri.
Virginia and New Jersey will hold high-stakes gubernatorial and legislative elections that may serve as a proxy for voters’ views on the president.
We will bring you the latest news and reactions as election day unfolds.
Share
Updated at 09.18 EST
