Americans will deliver an early judgment on Mr Trump’s presidency on Tuesday, in the first major wave of Trump era elections since his chaotic second term began.

Contests for mayor of New York, governor of New Jersey and Virginia, and a redistricting initiative in California, are all being cast in various ways as a referendum on how Democrats should re-establish their identity and how to react to the president’s combative style in Washington.

These races are taking place in Democratic-leaning states and in important battleground areas where candidates have sought to channel frustration against new Trump administration politics and also address ambivalence about the future direction of the Democratic Party.

With the 2026 midterms on the horizon, when control of Congress will be at stake for the remainder of Mr Trump’s time in the White House, both parties will be parsing Tuesday’s results for clues about how to tailor their messages in the year ahead.

Here are six big questions US elections today could answer. But with vote counting expected to be slow in some of the states holding races, it might not be clear on Tuesday night whether all the questions have been answered.

Mr Mamdani, a 34-year-old state assembly member who has gone from near-anonymity to being a well-known Trump political influence progressive voice in less than eight months, does not technically need a majority of the vote to become the next mayor of New York City. But if he can pull one out, that would strengthen his argument that New Yorkers are ready for further left- sect leadership.

He is, according to the rearmost bean, just a many points shy of maturity support among likely choosers, and with a comfortable lead over two challengers former Governor Andrew M. Cuomo, running as an independent after losing in the Popular primary in August, and Curtis Sliwa, the longtime communal activist and Democratic designee.