By Renee O’Connor, Opinion Editor
It’s the most wonderful time of the year: election season. With the New York City mayoral election drawing younger audiences to care about politics, it’s increasingly more important that we talk about why everyone should care about these elections.
There are four major elections I am currently watching across the country: Maine, NYC, Jersey, and Jersey City. Maine is unlike the other ones listed. The citizens are not voting for a governor or mayor, they are voting for propositions.
The first question touches on voter ID and absentee ballots. This proposition is with the intent to make casting votes more secure, but ultimately is making casting a vote more difficult. It would eliminate absentee voting and also will no longer allow citizens ages 65 and older to automatically receive a ballot in the mail. Vote NO on prop one.
The second question has been coined the “red flag proposal”. This proposition is very straightforward: do you believe that the courts should prohibit someone who is considered to be a threat to themselves or others from purchasing a firearm? Maine currently has a yellow flag law that was passed in 2020, which makes it so that only police officers can make that judgement. Vote YES on prop two.
This next state has also been receiving several endorsements from establishment democrats: New Jersey.
There are several local elections happening across New Jersey, but we will cover that next.
Democrat Mikie Sherrill has already received several messages of support from different political figures, as opposed to her Republican counterpart, Jack Ciattarelli, who recently received a good word from Donald Trump.
Jersey City is having a mayoral election and Mussab Ali has been standing out as my favorite candidate.
Being coined as the ‘Black Zohran Mamdani’, he is also a progressive with clear plans and policies. He recently paid for everyone’s laundry at a local laundry mat in Jersey City.
Now, of course, the man everyone can’t take their eyes off of: Zohran Mamdani. Mamdani has made waves over social media with his campaigning team appealing to Gen Z.
At first, I was worried. We had seen this kind of marketing last year in the presidential election with Kamala Harris.
However, unlike Harris, Mamdani has clear policies, stances, and has realistic plans for how he will make NYC more affordable. He is a socialist, not a centrist, or, as Trump has called him, a communist.
You should care about every single one of these elections and more. State-wide elections help set a tone for the entire country.
It will determine how states will fight back against the federal government. If Zohran Mamdani wins NYC, this means huge things for the political climate in our country.
He would be the first Muslim mayor of NYC. This is a history making election.
Maine’s gun reform propositions will also urge the administration to do the same. Or, at least, draw their attention to it.
The more states that vote blue, the more changes that impact the federal government. These elections right now are some of the most important. We are watching history be made.
November 4, 2025 will be the most anxious I have been in a long time. With my eyes on Maine, Jersey, Jersey City, and NYC, there are so many important elections happening in our country.