New York mayor latest: 'Trump's worst nightmare' leads Democrat wins - as president reacts with four-word post

Donald Trump is speaking at the White House ahead of a breakfast for Republican senators.

He speaks about the ongoing US government shutdown and - not for the first time - blames the Democrats for keeping it frozen.

"They'll take down the country if they have to," he says, adding that the shutdown is hitting people's food benefits, airlines and the stock market.

"It's time for Republicans to do what they have to do, and that's terminate the filibuster. It's the only way you can do it," he adds.

This is a breaking news post. We will update the post with Trump's comments.

The elections in a few US states have certainly made headlines across America this morning, but the real bellwether test for Donald Trump's second term will come next year.

The US midterm elections are held every four years, at the halfway point of a presidential term. The next elections are on 3 November 2026.

All 435 seats in the House of Representatives will be up for election, along with 35 of the 100 seats in the Senate, meaning there's plenty at stake for Trump and the Republicans who currently hold both the House and Senate.

Were they to lose both chambers to the Democrats, they would be able to stymie Trump's ability to pass legislation for the final two years of his presidency.

The chairman of the Democratic National Committee says his party has "levelled the playing field" after its California Prop 50 success.

Voters in The Golden State approved a measure that will temporarily redistrict the state in hopes of countering Republican efforts to do the same in Texas. The new maps could help Democrats pick up to five additional seats in the House.

"We've levelled the playing field," Ken Martin told US media outlet CNN this morning.

"Now it's up to Republicans: if they continue with this nonsense and continue going down this road of trying to redistrict, unconstitutionally redistrict in Republican controlled states, we're going to meet them state by state."

Zohran Mamdani's historic election victory is the focus of next week's edition of The New Yorker.

The cover shows the incoming New York City mayor riding the subway alongside people from all walks of life.

Asked why he chose to depict Mamdani on the subway, Edel Rodriguez, the artist behind the piece, said: "Mamdani spent much of his campaign out and about in the city - visiting bodegas, riding with taxi-drivers, asking questions, dancing, and laughing.

"He showed everyone he came across that he is one of them."

In other US news, Donald Trump has relaunched his nomination of a billionaire private astronaut to be the new NASA chief and lead the space agency "into a bold new era".

Jared Isaacman, an ally of SpaceX boss Elon Musk, was originally nominated by the US president in the spring, but the rug was pulled at the last minute over his previous donations to Democrats.

Now, in a sudden reversal, Trump has decided Isaacman is, after all, the best person for the job...

Democrats have even more to celebrate from yesterday's elections after two of the party's candidates advanced to a run-off for a US House seat that's been vacant since March.

Sylvester Turner's death earlier this year left his Texas seat needing to be filled.

And with no candidate able to seize a majority at the polls, Christian Menefee and Amanda Edwards, both Democrats, have advanced to a run-off.

Regardless of who comes out on top, the extra Democrat will narrow the GOP's slim majority in the House once a winner is sworn in. 

Neither received more than 50% of the vote, sending the race to a run-off that is expected early next year.

A year has passed since voters headed to the polls across America and elected Donald Trump as the 47th president in a remarkable political comeback.

Watch the video below to relive the key moments from that night as the results came in and Trump emerged as victorious over Kamala Harris.

Several politicians - including those on the left - in the UK have been celebrating Zohran Mamdani's victory this morning.

Earlier, London mayor Sir Sadiq Khan congratulated Mamdani for what he called an "historic campaign" (see 7.15am post).

Independent MP Jeremy Corbyn has also praised Mamdani on his "seismic victory".

"You ignited a grassroots campaign, built on the radical idea that everyone deserves to live in dignity," he says on X.

Zarah Sultana, who is forming a new left-wing party with Corbyn, also congratulated Mamdani, sharing a photo of the pair together.

Zack Polanski, the leader of the Green Party, whose politics and campaigning style have been compared to Mamdani's, told Mornings with Ridge and Frost that the soon-to-be New York mayor is "much cooler than I am". 

But he said he thought they shared "the same relentless focus on inequality".

Watch him share his remarks at the start of this clip...

His energetic campaign, with cost-of-living concerns at its heart, has made Zohran Mamdani popular among working-class voters.

He has used social media to engage with a younger demographic, with slickly-produced videos earning him nearly 5 million followers on Instagram and 1.6 million on TikTok.

He has set out his vision of free buses, free childcare, new apartments and a higher minimum wage - paid for by new taxes on the rich.

Likewise, he has also shared plans to hire thousands of new teachers, renegotiate city contracts and freeze rent increases for the city's one million rent-regulated apartments.

Mamdani's campaign has also been helped by controversies plaguing his competitors.

Andrew Cuomo has been trying to make a political comeback from a sexual harassment scandal that saw him resign as governor of New York state in 2021.

His resignation came after a report from the state attorney general concluded that he had sexually harassed at least 11 women. Cuomo has said he did not intentionally mistreat the women but had run afoul of what was considered appropriate workplace conduct.

The 67-year-old refused to back down after losing the Democratic primary to Mamdani, and has become a more likely winner as an independent than Republican candidate Sliwa, owing to New York's largely Democratic-leaning population.

But the other candidates have continued to use the allegations against Cuomo as fuel during their campaigns, including Mamdani, who, in the final mayoral debate, said one of his alleged victims was in the crowd and asked him: "What do you say to the 13 women that you sexually harassed?"

Adding to Mamdani's chances is the fact that the current mayor, Eric Adams, decided to drop out of the race for re-election in September.

Adams, a Democrat and former senior police officer in the NYPD, enjoyed strong ratings from New Yorkers early in his term, but his reputation took a hit after he was charged with taking bribes and illegal campaign contributions from foreign nationals last year. The charges have since been dropped.

Zohran Mamdani will become New York City's next mayor after he swept to victory in a decisive win, completing his late and unexpected rise to political stardom.

The 34-year-old politician has gone from aspiring rapper to New York City's mayor-elect. 

So how did he get here, what does he stand for, and why has he proved a divisive figure?