Good morning, it’s Wednesday, and it’s also World Tsunami Awareness Day, which, given the events of the past 24 hours, seems metaphorically fitting.
Before we get to the sea change occurring in politics, let’s talk about actual tsunamis. World Tsunami Awareness Day was established by the United Nations in 2015 at the behest of Japan, which, given the fact that it’s an island nation, knows a thing or two about the potentially devastating power of a tsunami.
In fact, the word “tsunami” itself comes from the Japanese characters for harbor (“tsu”) and wave (“name”). Japan has experienced more tsunamis than any other country – more than 350 recorded events – thanks to its location on the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, which includes 75 percent of all the Earth’s active volcanoes, and has a LOT of seismic activity as a result.
This might be a good time to remind everyone of the definition of a tsunami, which is an ocean wave that is triggered by an earthquake under or near the water, volcanic eruptions, and underwater or on-shore landslides that deposit large amounts of debris into the water.
You might confuse a tsunami with a tidal wave, but the two are very different. The later (also known as a tidal bore) is a shallow water wave that is caused by the gravitational interactions between the Earth, the Sun and the Moon. These are predictable and regular occurrences – one in China occurs annually and is quite famous. If you want to go deep on this, click here.
The problem with tsunamis is that they are highly unpredictable.
Not every undersea earthquake causes a tsunami and once scientists figure out that a possibly deadly wave is on the way, the warning systems sometimes give people very little time to prepare and get out of the way. Often, warnings are issued and then no tsunami actually materializes, which makes it harder for people to take them seriously, though there are apparently fewer false alarms than there used to be.
According to the Global Historical Tsunami Database, tsunamis that cause damage or deaths near their source occur pretty rarely – about twice per year. And, for the record, though they most often occur far from the U.S., they can and have happened here. Specifically, Hawaii, Alaska, and the west coast have been hit in years past.
The best chance you have of surviving a tsunami is to move either as far inland as possible or seek higher ground (a tree or the upper floor of a very study building made of reinforced concrete will do in a pinch).
If you get caught in the water, try to hold onto to something that floats and try to protect your head and body from getting slammed by passing debris. If you’re in a boat when a tsunami hits, head further out to sea, or at least into deeper water. (I know this seems counterintuitive – or at least it does to this particular landlubber – but that’s what the experts say).
Yesterday, a number of elections caused metaphorical tsunamis, the impact of which will be parsed for some time. I know we’re all eager to get into the headlines…
It will be sunny but chillier today, with temperatures struggling to break out of the high 40s. There will be only a few passing clouds, but it will again be windy, with gusts higher than 25 mph possible. Hang on to your proverbial hats.
In the headlines…
Democrats scored electoral victories in the four major races of election night: the New York City mayoral race, the governor’s races in New Jersey and Virginia and Prop 50, California’s redistricting ballot measure.
The night saw two kids of Democrats win. Mikie Sherrill and Abigail Spanberger, both moderates, won the governorships of New Jersey and Virginia, while Democratic Socialist Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani defeated moderate former Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
Trump attributed Republicans’ election night losses in part to his absence from the ballot. Some of his closest allies blamed poor candidate quality. One Republican said the GOP failed to address rising costs.
“TRUMP WASN’T ON THE BALLOT, AND SHUTDOWN, WERE THE TWO REASONS THAT REPUBLICANS LOST ELECTIONS TONIGHT,” according to Pollsters,” the president posted in one of a flurry of social media posts, but not naming the pollsters.
Even as the government shutdown stretched into today and surpassed the record for the longest in American history, President Trump showed no interest in negotiating with Democrats. Instead, as the two sides entered their 36th day at an impasse.
The president threatened to deny food subsidy payments for 42 million Americans until the end of the government shutdown, in apparent defiance of a court order. (The White House press secretary later said the administration would comply with the court.)
A California ballot measure allowing Democrats to enact a friendlier set of congressional lines in the Golden State also passed, delivering Gov. Gavin Newsom and his party a major win amid the country’s redistricting battle.
The passage of Proposition 50 cemented Newsom’s position as President Trump’s chief antagonist and raised his national political profile.
Californians voted to approve Proposition 50, which allows the state to bypass its independent redistricting commission and pass a new Democratic-friendly House map ahead of 2026, giving the party four or five pickup opportunities next year.
Mamdani, 34, was elected mayor of New York City yesterday, becoming the youngest man picked to lead the five boroughs in modern history in what is widely seen as a watershed moment for his party’s surging left wing.
Mamdani will be city’s first-ever Muslim and South Asian mayor, was declared the winner of the 2025 race for City Hall by the Associated Press shortly after 9:30 p.m.
Mamdani secured more than one million votes — 50% of all ballots cast — defeating Cuomo (41%) by nine points. Republican Curtis Sliwa, without support from either his party or the Trump camp, received 7%.
Cuomo conceded the New York mayoral election to Mamdani as the crowd at his election night party booed. “No, that is not right, and that is not us,” he told his supporters.
Cuomo reiterated the importance of the platforms and ideas he campaigned on throughout the year with hopes of winning the heated race, while jabbing Mandani without naming him.
The election was marked by massive turnout, with more than 2 million votes cast and Mamdani capturing more than a million of them himself, according to early Board of Elections tabulations.
The trailblazing mayor-elect won praise from supporters who said his victory reflected his inspiring message of generational change and indefatigable campaign focus on affordability.
“Starting at 1% in the polls, @ZohranKMamdani pulled off one of the great political upsets in modern American history,” Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders wrote in a post on the social platform X, with a photo of him and Mamdani.
In his first speech as the next mayor of New York, Mamdani made clear that he and his city are coming for Trump, saying: “If anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him, it is the city that gave rise to him.”
The first person Mamdani quoted in his victory speech was socialist Eugene Debs, declaring, related to Cuomo, “Let tonight be the final time I utter his name, as we turn the page on a politics that abandons the many and answers only to the few.”
“New York, tonight you have delivered a mandate for change, a mandate for a new kind of politics, a mandate for a city that we can afford and a mandate for a government that delivers exactly that,” Mamdani said.
Trump’s endorsement of Cuomo on the eve of Election Day may have hurt more than it helped with a city electorate that disapproves of the president’s performance by a 70% to 30% margin, according to exit polls.
“This campaign was the right fight to wage,” Cuomo, who ran as an independent, said. “This campaign was to contest the philosophies that are shaping the Democratic Party, the future of this city and the future of this country.”
Mamdani said that he was voting for four housing ballot measures that would streamline development approvals and shift power away from the New York City Council, revealing his stance as he headed to his poll site.
After more than a year of repeating ambitious promises about freezing rent and making childcare free, Mamdani will wake this morning with a daunting task ahead of him: make those things reality for New York City.
New York City hit the polls in record-breaking fashion yesterday, with turnout reaching 1.45 million voters by 3 p.m., surpassing the total turnout in the past five mayoral elections.
As New York City tackles a pervasive affordability crisis, New York City voters passed three reforms to fast-track affordable housing development, despite pushback from the City Council over concerns it would blunt power to stop projects in their districts.
New Yorkers said yes to four citywide ballot measures last night, approving a slate of proposals intended to reshape how the city approaches affordable housing development.
It was a neck-and-neck race in Throggs Neck, but it appears Democrats have gained back a City Council seat in that Bronx district.
Workers at three Manhattan polling sites received emails threatening a terror attack yesterday, but an NYPD source said investigators believe it’s part of a hoax to drum up fear on Election Day.
Enrollment at New York City public schools fell by more than 20,000 students this year, according to preliminary data released by the education department, a sign the nation’s largest school system is still seeing a trend that accelerated during the pandemic.
The Republican party has maintained its dominance in Nassau County. This election cycle saw the reelections of three Republican incumbents: County Executive Bruce Blakeman, District Attorney Anne Donnelly and Hempstead Town Supervisor John Ferretti.
Democrat Sean Ryan was elected mayor of Buffalo last night, the first newly elected mayor the city has had since 2006.
Republican incumbent Ed Day declared victory in the race for Rockland County executive, defeating Independent Mike Parietti.
Onondaga County residents yesterday swept Democrats into office in a tidal wave that flipped control of the county Legislature to Democrats for the first time in nearly 50 years and won numerous other elections in areas that were once comfortably Republican.
Dorcey Applyrs took the stage at 9:45 p.m. last night at Greenhouse Social Club at La Serre as the first Black candidate to be elected mayor of Albany in the more than three centuries since New York’s capital city was chartered.
Rensselaer County Executive Steve McLaughlin won a third term, defeating Democratic challenger Tiffani Silverman, who built her campaign around gripes with McLaughlin’s character and priorities as she faced GOP criticism over her personal financial history.
Republicans appeared likely to retain control over the Saratoga County district attorney and sheriff’s offices. Democrat Jackie Salvatore won the race for Columbia County Sheriff, becoming the first Black woman elected county sheriff in New York history.
A 69-year-old Saratoga Springs man died earlier this week, weeks after he was struck by a man fleeing a Walmart he’d allegedly stolen from, State Police confirmed.
A divided Albany Common Council passed an ordinance overhauling legislation that allows bars and other businesses to play music.
After losing a battle to keep State Police from building a barracks in their neighborhood, Luther Forest residents are now imploring police to find another location for their proposed 180-foot lattice wireless communications tower that will border their backyards.
In the aftermath of tragedy that darkened their lives, the Rabadi family found love as a light to guide them through the tunnel of their grief.
At least seven people were killed and 11 were injured when a UPS plane crashed in a colossal fiery explosion — leaving a long trail of flames and destruction — shortly after taking off from Louisville’s Muhammad Ali International Airport yesterday evening.
“Right now we believe we have at least three fatalities, though I believe that number is going to get larger,” Gov. Andy Beshear said in an evening briefing from Louisville, noting some of the 11 injuries in the “catastrophic crash” were “very significant.”
UPS confirmed that three crew members were aboard but did not comment on fatalities.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
