Trump Made Double-Digit Gains in 2 Blue States: See the Breakdown

Former President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump arrives to speak during a campaign rally at Madison Square Garden in New York, on Oct. 27, 2024. Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images

President-elect Donald Trump was able to make significant, double-digit gains in two Democrat-controlled states during Tuesday’s election.

While all the votes have not been counted yet, a right-ward trend was observed in a number of nominally blue states such as New York, New Jersey, California, and Illinois, as compared with the 2020 contest. All five states are dominated by Democrats in their respective state legislatures and have Democratic governors.

New Jersey

Trump was 5 percentage points behind Vice President Kamala Harris in New Jersey as of Friday with 94 percent of the vote counted. In comparison, the former president lost to President Joe Biden by nearly 16 percentage points in 2020.

It means Trump erased about a 12-point deficit in the Garden State, and he was able to flip five counties red.

Morris, Passaic, Gloucester, Cumberland, and Atlantic counties went in favor of Biden four years ago. But Trump took those counties on Tuesday.

“The margin in 2020 in New Jersey was 17-ish points. This year it’s 5-ish. It’s hard not to be sober about that and reflect,” New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, who was nearly defeated by a Republican challenger in the state’s gubernatorial race in 2021, told Fox5-TV this week.

New York

In nearby New York, Harris had a more than 11-point lead over Trump during the Tuesday election. However, the vice president’s lead pales in comparison to Biden’s 23-point lead over Trump in 2020.

Statewide, Trump flipped three counties that went in favor of Biden in 2020 and also in favor of Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016. They include Nassau County on Long Island, Clinton County, and Rockland County, election data show.

Trump also flipped two counties that were won by Biden in 2020: Broome County and Essex County.

Within New York City itself, Trump also made gains, including a 5 percent increase in Brooklyn, a 10-point increase in Queens, 11 points in the Bronx, and a 5 point increase in Manhattan. Trump in 2024 won Staten Island with more than 64 percent of the vote, compared with 57 percent in 2020.

Despite Trump’s gains across the state, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and New York Attorney General Letitia James, both Democrats, offered a warning to Trump.

“If you try to harm New Yorkers, or roll back their rights, I will fight you every step of the way,” she said at a press conference. “New Yorkers are resilient. We fought the first time around and we'll fight again.”

James, who brought a civil case against the president-elect and his company, also said on Thursday that her office is planning steps “to respond to their attacks.” Over the years, Trump and attorneys have been critical of the state attorney general for what they have said are politicized attempts to target his businesses.

Other Notable Swings

In Illinois, another Democrat-dominated state, Trump saw a 5-point swing in his favor and came within 8 percent of Harris on Tuesday. In 2020, Trump only grabbed 40 percent of the vote against Biden. But in 2024, he expanded his margin to 45 percent, compared with Harris’s 53 percent.

The state’s governor, Democrat JB Pritzker, had a similarly combative message when he spoke in a news conference on Thursday.

“To anyone who intends to come take away the freedom and opportunity and dignity of Illinoisans: I would remind you that a happy warrior is still a warrior,” he said. “You come for my people, you come through me.”

The most populous U.S. state also saw a slight right-ward shift during Tuesday’s election, and not only for the presidential election.

While California still has millions of ballots left to count, Trump appears to have posted a modest 5 percent increase in the Golden State over his numbers in 2020. So far, he has 39.8 percent of the vote, while he was only able to garner 34.2 percent in 2020.

California voters, meanwhile, overwhelming passed a ballot referendum that would increase penalties on certain theft and drug offenses, reversing a ballot measure passed about 10 years ago. Proposition 36 cleared with more than 70 percent of the vote.

Trump flipped 10 California counties red: Butte, Nevada, San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Merced, Inyo, Fresno, San Bernardino, Riverside, and Orange.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement on Thursday that he will call a special legislative session to respond to Trump’s policies and was critical of the president-elect.