Democrats Sweep on Election Night; Supreme Court to Hear Tariff Arguments

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1:02Bloomberg Audio Studios. Podcasts. Radio. News. Good morning. I'm Nathan Hager. And I'm Karen Moscow. Here are the stories we're following today. Karen, Election Night 2025 is in the books from coast to coast. And we begin this morning with results from two key elections in the tri-state area, starting in New York City. The Big Apple has a new mayor. Bloomberg's Lisa Mateo joins us in Manhattan with more on the historic win for Zoran Mondani. Lisa. Nathan, New York City residents, they really came out in force, producing the highest turnout in more than half a century, with more than 2 million votes counted.

1:43And in the end, it was Democratic Socialist Zoran Mondani who came out on top, receiving 50.4 % of the votes. Tonight, you have delivered a mandate for change. A mandate for a new kind of politics. A mandate for a city we can afford. And a mandate for a government that delivers exactly that. And Mondami, he energized young voters with the campaign for a more affordable New York City. Former Governor Andrew Cuomo, who ran as an independent after losing to Mondami in the primary, he garnered 41.6 percent with 98 percent of the votes counted. In his consistent speech, well, Cuomo said he is ready to help in any way he can.

2:31We will all help any way we can because we need our New York City government to work. We want it to work for all New Yorkers because our city is the greatest city in the world. But Cuomo also said that the tally show almost half of New Yorkers did not vote to support government agenda that he said, quote, makes promises that we know cannot be met. Now, Republican Curtis Lewa, he received 7.1 % of the votes. When Mondami is sworn in on January 1st as the 111th mayor of New York, the 34-year-old state lawmaker from Queens will be the youngest person to hold the office in a century. He'll also be New York's first Muslim mayor and first person of South Asian descent.

3:14Nathan. All right, Lisa. Well, it was a big night for Democrats as well in New Jersey, wasn't it? Yeah, sure. Mikey Sherrill. She has become the 57th next governor of New Jersey with 56.2 percent of the votes defeating Republican Jack Cittarelli, who was actually backed by President Donald Trump. It was Cittarelli's third bid for mayor. But this is more than a local story. I mean, Sherrill's win is drawing national attention as a potential preview for what's to come in the 2026 midterms. She touched upon it during her acceptance speech in East Brunswick last night. Here in New Jersey, we know that this nation has not ever been, nor will it ever be, ruled by kings.

3:56Cheryl, she is a former federal prosecutor, Navy helicopter pilot. She won the support of former President Barack Obama. She will replace Democratic Governor Phil Murphy, who was barred from law by seeking a third consecutive term. Her victory actually marks the first time in 60 years that one party has won three consecutive gubernatorial elections in the Garden State. Lisa Mateo, Bloomberg Radio. All right, Lisa, thank you. In another key race in New Jersey, former Governor Jim McGreevy and James Solomon will take part in a December runoff election in the race for mayor of Jersey City. With 92 % of the vote in, Solomon received 29%, while McGreevy got 25.4%.

4:37They were the top two vote-getters in yesterday's nonpartisan election, but needed to get to 50 % to declare victory. While the Democratic victories, Karen, continued in Virginia, Abigail Spanberger is the Commonwealth's next governor. We sent a message to the whole world that in 2025, Virginia chose pragmatism over partisanship. Abigail Spanberger defeated Republican Winsome Earl Sears 52.5 % to 42.3 % with nearly all the votes counted to become Virginia's first female governor. The former congresswoman and ex-CIA officer ran on economic issues and argued that President Trump's tariffs and government cuts have added to uncertainty in the state.

5:22We get more from Bloomberg's Joe Matthew. You've got somebody here who's going to probably try to be a check on the Trump administration, but also has real good messaging when it comes to not only federal workers, but the huge concentration of members of the military in Virginia. And Bloomberg's Joe Matthew notes about six percent of Virginia's workforce is in the federal government. In another closely watched race, Democrat Jay Jones beat Republican incumbent Jason Meares to become Virginia's next attorney general. That was despite a texting scandal in which Jones threatened to put, quote, two bullets in the head of a political rival.

5:57Two years ago, Jones received 53.1 percent of the vote to 46 and a half percent for Mearis. In Boston, Nathan, Michelle Wu has won her second term as mayor. She ran unopposed after winning big in the preliminary election over Josh Kraft, who then dropped out of the race in September. Wu spoke to supporters after the polls closed. Tonight and over the next four years, we will send the same message we've sent since the day that Boston was founded. That the fight for our freedom, for our families, our friends, and the future we know to be possible is always a fight worth fighting for. Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, with 65 % of precincts reporting, Wu earned 92 % of the vote.

6:428 % went to write-in candidates. And the other major race, Karen, that we were tracking was in California. Voters there passed Proposition 50 to redraw the state's congressional map before the midterms. With 71 percent of votes counted, nearly 64 percent of California voters approved the ballot measure that could flip up to five Republican held House seats to Democrats next year. California Governor Gavin Newsom is calling on other states to follow his lead. We can de facto end Donald Trump's presidency as we know it. The minute Speaker Jeffries gets sworn in as Speaker of the House of Representatives, it is all on the line.

7:25California Governor Gavin Newsom pushed Prop 50 to counter a move in Texas to flip up to five of that state's House seats to the GOP. Well, in Colorado, Nathan, voters opted to keep a ban on flavored tobacco in place. And Bloomberg's Dan Schwartzman reports. Denver voters overwhelmingly voted to pass Resolution 310, which upheld the city's ban on selling flavored tobacco products. Just last year, the Denver City Council passed an ordinance to ban the products, but opponents filed the ballot initiative to challenge it. The resolution became a national story as the supporters of the ban raised$5.8 million, making the referendum one of the most expensive races in the 2025 election cycle.

8:07Dan Schwartzman, Bloomberg Radio. All right, Dan, thank you. And we should note nearly all the funding for the committee in support of the ban, Denver Kids versus Big Tobacco, came from Michael Bloomberg, the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg Television and Radio. Well, Karen, another major story we're following this morning is that deadly plane crash in Kentucky. At least seven people were killed, nearly a dozen injured after a UPS cargo plane crashed and exploded shortly after takeoff from Louisville. Craig Greenberg is Louisville's mayor. I'd like to send my prayers to the families of the victims of this tragic crash.

8:46The aircraft was a UPS MD-11 with three crew on board. It just had taken off on a flight to Honolulu when it crashed in an industrial area close to the airport. Let's turn to Washington, Nathan. The government shutdown has reached a new milestone. It is now the longest in U.S. history at day 36, and the standoff with Democrats continues for Senate Majority Leader John Thune. I still don't know exactly what it is they want. We have accommodated a lot of their questions and concerns. They want to have a discussion about health care. We offered that up a long time ago. And Senate Majority Leader John Thune says he hopes this will be the week they can negotiate an end to the impasse.

9:25But even if they do, they'll face another funding fight. The stopgap spending bill the House passed in September expires in a little more than two weeks. Meanwhile, military pay and partially funded food aid are likely to run out before the end of the month. The Congressional Budget Office estimates the shutdown will cut fourth quarter GDP by up to 2 % if it continues for eight weeks. In Washington as well, Karen, the Supreme Court is set to hear arguments about whether President Trump can use the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to impose import taxes. after lower courts ruled he exceeded his authority.

9:58Bloomberg's Amy Morris has more from Washington. Earlier this week, on his way back to Washington, President Trump on board Air Force One said he would not attend the hearing, but called it an important decision. I think it's the most important decision in the history of our country. Without our being able to use tariffs, really would suffer tremendously from a national security standpoint. There are other ways the president can impose tariffs, but those come with more limits and procedural restrictions. And while Trump's Supreme Court appointees have generally backed the president, this case will be the first time the court will directly consider Trump's assertions of sweeping presidential power.

10:36In Washington, Amy Morris, Bloomberg Radio. All right, Amy, thank you. Let's turn to the markets now. Our futures are mostly lower following yesterday's sell-off on Wall Street. A global chip route saw roughly$500 billion erased in combined market capitalization from the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index and a Bloomberg Gage tracking Asia chip stocks. Well, one chip stock under pressure this morning, Karen, is Advanced Micro Devices. Those shares are down more than 4%. The main contender to NVIDIA in the artificial intelligence chip market failed to impress investors with its revenue forecast. AMD stock had more than doubled this year heading into that earnings report.

11:14Shares of Supermicro devices, they are down more than 8.5 % this morning. The server maker missed reduced estimates for first quarter sales and profit. It also gave a disappointing earnings forecast for the current period, reinforcing concerns about its ability to capitalize on demand for AI equipment.

11:33Time now for a look at some of the other stories making news in New York and around the world. For that, we're joined by Bloomberg's Monica Ricks. Monica, good morning. Well, good morning, Karen. And we watched a lot of other key races last night in several states. Let's start in New York. Voters weighed in on six proposals in New York City, but the big ones were three housing proposals, props two through four on the ballot. The city council had been very vocal about them leading up to Election Day, arguing that changes would weaken their control over neighborhood development. But advocates say the measures were crucial for building more housing quickly.

12:05And New Yorkers agreed, passing all three between 56.8 and 58.3 in favor. New Yorkers also voted in favor of Prop 5, which would replace borough-controlled paper maps with a unified digital map of New York City. That won a favor of 73 to 27 percent. And Prop 6 was voted down. Voters did not want to hold local elections in years when presidential elections were held. The no votes took it with 53 percent to 47. This would have moved local elections from odd number years to even numbered to increase voter turnout. New York State's ballot proposal won still tight. 89 % of the votes are in so far, with 52 % of votes approving a measure that would amend the state constitution to authorize an expansion of the Olympic sports complex in Exx County.

12:55That's located within the state's protected forest preserve. The special election for New York's 115th State Assembly District, that's still too close to call, even though Democrat Michael Cashman has declared victory over Republican retired state police major and troop commander Brett Davidson. This district covers all of Clinton County, Franklin County, and a few towns in Essex County. The winner would replace Democrat Billy Jones, who stepped down back in September after nearly a decade in office. So far, Cashman's leading with 52 percent of the vote. Democrats also scored big in mayoral races around New York State.

13:31Democrat Dorsey Applers won an overwhelming majority to become the first black mayor in Albany's history. Sharon Owens, also the first black mayor in Syracuse now. Sean Ryan won the race for Buffalo's mayor. And Mayor Malik Evans won a second term in a landslide in Rochester's mayoral race. Over in New Jersey, all 80 seats in the state's general assembly were up for grabs. And Democrats had held a 52 to 28 majority in the chamber heading into Tuesday's election. A few races still close to call this morning, but it looks like Democrats will hang on to that majority. The current total is 49 to 19 seats.

14:09And Pennsylvania voters retained three state Supreme Court justices. They preserved Democrats 5-2 majority. The incumbents there surviving to keep their seats. Global News 24 hours a day and whenever you want it with Bloomberg News Now. I'm Monica Ricks, and this is Bloomberg. Thanks, Monica. Time now for our Bloomberg Sports Update. And for that, we bring in John Stashauer. Thanks, Karen. At the NFL trade deadline, the Jets traded maybe their two best players, cornerback Sauce Gardner to Indianapolis for two first-round picks, and defensive lineman Quentin Williams to Dallas for first - and second-round picks.

14:44The college basketball season begins with Purdue ranked number one. The Boilermakers had an easy season-opening win. Duke beat Texas 75-60. Oklahoma City Thunder defending NBA champs and 8-0 this year. They beat the Clippers in L.A. That's your Bloomberg Sports Update. Stay with us. More from Bloomberg Daybreak coming up after this. This is Tom Keen inviting you to join us for the Bloomberg Surveillance Podcast. It's about making you smarter every business day. I'm Paul Sweeney. We bring you complete coverage of the U.S. market open. We cover stocks, bonds, commodities, even crypto. all the information you need to excel.

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16:08Coast to coast on Bloomberg Radio, nationwide on Sirius XM, and around the world on Bloomberg.com and the Bloomberg Business app. This is Bloomberg Daybreak. And good morning. I'm Karen Moscow alongside Nathan Hager. And election night 2025 is in the books. And it was a Democratic clean sweep in the major races in New York, New Jersey, Virginia, and California. A great night for self-described Democratic Socialist Mayor-elect Zoran Mamdani. Tonight you have delivered a mandate for change. A mandate for a new kind of politics. A mandate for a city we can afford. And again, that is Zoran Mamdani in New York.

16:56We're joined now by Bloomberg Daybreak Editor Mark Perrier. Mark, good morning. Let's start in New York. I can't get past this. Two million people coming out to vote and us saying it's the highest turnout in more than half a century. So a lot of people came out to vote in this election. It was a big deal. What did it for Mamdani? Good morning. Definitely a resounding victory. New Yorkers waking up to a different political landscape in the city. I think the lure here was the cost of living. He definitely appealed to a younger electorate, really hitting on wanting to bring change to the city. And that definitely appealed to the wider electorate in the city.

17:45Affordability and change, though, those are big undertakings. Can he do it? Lots of challenges ahead. His populist approach definitely will have a lot of challenges. He's got to find the funding to cover these bold plans of his. And he cannot forget Wall Street. I mean, that's a fact. I mean, he's got to, in my opinion, reach out to Wall Street and make it work. So interesting last night, late last night, that Bill Ackman reached out through Twitter, through X, saying, you know, I'm here for you if you need be. Very interesting. I think there's potential there to work. But again, very strong populist message.

18:32But there has to be coalition building here. Yeah, well, there are also wins for the Democrats in New Jersey and Virginia. We also saw that redistricting vote in California that passed as well. Does this tell us anything about the midterms coming up? I think it does. I think we're seeing a platform strategy forming within the Democratic Party that will hit on the cost of living. That's certainly proved to be beneficial to the Democrats in Virginia and New Jersey. So I think we're going to see them hitting on that. But again, within the Democratic Party, you have fraction and debate between a younger, more progressive, more progressive activists and a more moderate wing.

19:20They need to work on that. They need to be on the same page moving forward. And but when you look at the bigger picture, when you talk about the same page moving forward, I mean, these were not major battleground states. It's obviously New York isn't, New Jersey isn't, California isn't. So is there a really a bigger takeaway from this or was this mostly what we could have expected in terms of election victories? It's what we were expecting, but I think they needed to see, the Democrats needed to see positive headlines this morning, hitting every major newspaper in the country. And that's what they've achieved.

20:00It's a good look for them this morning after, you know, suffering a lot, you know, a major loss to Trump last year. So so I think it's all about re-energizing the party and then moving forward with bigger victories. All right. Bloomberg Daybreak editor Mark Perrier joining us this morning. Mark, thank you. Nathan. All right, Karen. Thank you. And for more analysis on election night 2025, we are joined now by Terry Haynes, the founder of Pangea Policy. Terry, as we've been saying, it was a Democratic sweep on the states of New York, New Jersey, Virginia, California. Is this a Democratic springboard into 2026?

20:41Good morning. Good morning, Nathan. And it is a it's a little bit of a moment of clarity for Democrats. That's for sure. To add on to a point that was just made earlier, Democrats winning races they should win is the bare minimum test. The Democrats passed it last night. But reviving Democrats nationally is going to take a lot more than doing the minimum. And you've got two approaches here. You know, you've got kind of this jarring juxtaposition between New Jersey and Virginia centrists who focus on, as Governor-elect Spanberger in Virginia said, pragmatism and problem-solving, versus Mamdani, who has taken this sort of pie-in-the-sky approach, emphasizing things that, you know, by and large, you really can't deliver.

21:35So, you know, Democrats, by and large, have a choice here on paths, but that path is going to have to involve actually solving problems rather than expressing solidarity with the problems themselves. To that point, Terry, there was a focus from Mumdani and the gubernatorial, or the governors-elect now in New Jersey and Virginia, on economic issues, whether they expressed it in different ways. Does that point to a strategy for Democrats in red states next year? It does, yeah, absolutely. But the Democrats are going to have to do more than express solidarity with the struggles of people. They're going to have to not only show how they're going to solve it, But, you know, you can look at the kind of the petri dishes of Virginia and New Jersey is offering the first tests in whether those Democrats can be successful.

22:39Mamdani's got his own problem. And that problem, as I say, is in part that his reach exceeds his grasp and that he needs Albany to help. But he's also got a choice. Does he become a builder and a change agent to solve what he can and bring along with him by doing the hard work of negotiating and persuading with the rest of New York State Democrats, including the national leaders, Schumer and Jeffries? Or does he become kind of Bill de Blasio, redux, and merely promise without delivering? And that's the thing to watch in New York, because if that doesn't happen with the kind of spotlight that Mamdani now has on him, if that doesn't happen, his failures could actually redound to the benefits of Trump and Republicans in the midterms.

23:33Does Mayor-elect Mamdani have a problem with President Trump as well? We saw the president on Truth Social last night during Mamdani's victory speech saying, and so it begins. He's threatened to cut off federal funding. He's threatened to deport Mayor-elect Mamdani. What's in store for New York City now?

23:56Mamdani should be careful what he wishes for, because in this particular time of politics, both parties have shown that they're entirely capable of using whatever levers are available to them. So I would take as serious Trump's threat to limit or even eliminate, if possible, funding to New York City. And just by the same token, you have a situation in Washington where national Democrats have decided that it's worth keeping the government shut down and causing delays to all kinds of services, whether it be SNAP, whether it be air traffic, whether it even be the data that markets and the Fed need in order to keep going.

24:49going for the sake of political gain. So there's a situation here where, you know, the kind of the bare knuckle of politics is kind of reaching a new dimension here. I'm curious, so whether the election results, these victories for Democrats could lead to a shift in strategy from either of the parties on the government shutdown now. I told markets last night, and I will tell you this morning, I think there are two negatives and a positive from the situation. The first negative is shutdown. Shutdown just got a lot more difficult to solve at a time where its effects are finally starting to bite.

25:32Democrats just got emboldened and got more difficult, convinced that they should compromise with the immovable object, Bad Orange Man. And you've got this more New York City-centric, you've got these jitters about Mondani and what he might do and how you might be able to work with him if you're Wall Street. The market's positive is that it increases even more Trump and Republicans' urgency to put in place as much as possible of their markets-friendly economic and geopolitical agendas in the next 12 months, so to the extent that markets like economically what Trump and Republicans are trying to do, which by and large they very much do, expect more of that and more quickly.

26:40Nationwide on Sirius XM Channel 121. Plus, listen coast to coast on the Bloomberg Business app, now with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto interfaces. And don't forget to subscribe to Bloomberg News Now. It's the latest news whenever you want it, in five minutes or less. Search Bloomberg News Now on your favorite podcast platform to stay informed all day long. I'm Karen Moscow. And I'm Nathan Hager. Join us again tomorrow morning for all the news you need to start your day right here on Bloomberg Daybreak.