After losing all three branches of the federal government last year, Democrats finally won big on November 11th. Virginia elected its first female governor in Democrat Abigail Spanberger, and New Jersey elected Mikie Sherrill. In New York, Democrat Zohran Mamdani was elected mayor, becoming the first Muslim mayor and the youngest since 1892 to hold the office. Additionally, three propositions were passed: Proposition 50 in California, and Propositions LL and MM in Colorado.

Let’s start with Virginia electing Abigail Spanberger: for some background information, Spanberger’s father served in the U.S. Army, and her mother worked in foster care before becoming a nurse. She made it a point throughout the campaign trail to explain how their hard work and dedication helped her become the person she is today. She worked for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) as a case officer before joining the private sector in 2016. She was elected governor with 57.3% of the vote, becoming the first female governor and flipping the seat back from red to blue. Spanberger’s campaign centered on strengthening Virginia’s public school districts, making Virginia more affordable for all, protecting women’s reproductive rights, safeguarding the state’s environment, securing retirement benefits, and increasing transparency in the state government.

In New Jersey, Democrat Mikie Sherrill won her race with 56.6% of the vote. After graduating, Sherrill served nearly 10 years in the United States Navy as a pilot. Following that, she graduated from law school and went on to be an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey. Sherrill’s main goals are to make New Jersey affordable overall, including providing more affordable housing and affordable healthcare. Sherrill also seeks to protect abortion and reproductive rights, provide childcare, open up more education options, provide better accessible transportation, help bring energy prices down, improve the environment, improve the public safety and justice system, innovate technology, help working families, and be more transparent and accountable.

The last major Democratic candidate who won this November was Zohran Mamdani. Mamdani was born in Kampala, Uganda, but his family moved to New York City when he was seven. He attended Bowdoin College and received a bachelor’s degree in African Studies. He won the mayoral race with 50.4% of the vote, and his main campaign goal was to make New York affordable for everyone. On housing, he wants to freeze rent, build more affordable housing, crack down on harmful landlords, and support landowners. He also wants to improve public safety, make groceries more affordable, provide fast and free bus transportation, combat corporate exploitation, offer no-cost childcare, provide babysitting baskets for newborns, improve the K-12 education system, tax billionaires and large corporations, make schools greener, protect the LGBTQIA+ community, make healthcare more affordable, and “Trump-proof” NYC.

In California, Proposition 50 (or Prop 50) passed. Each member of the U.S. House represents one congressional district, and they are elected by their district every two years. California currently has 52 congressional districts. Democrats favored this proposition to fight back against the Trump administration’s redistricting efforts, with the 2026 midterms approaching. If California can change the size and location of each of these districts, it potentially changes the partisan split of their congressional delegation in favor of Democrats. California Democrats claimed it was to make things more even after Republicans did the same thing in Texas to make their delegation more Republican. Normally, after the U.S. census, which occurs every ten years, this redistricting process happens automatically to make each area represent similar amounts of people. California and Texas aren’t the only states that have considered taking action earlier, but are the only ones that have acted so far before the midterms. The efforts will cost roughly $200,000, which is far less than a tenth of California’s general fund budget.

Finally, in Colorado, Propositions LL and MM passed. The propositions go hand-in-hand: Prop LL allows the Colorado government to spend $12.4 million in tax revenue on Healthy School Meals, similar to SNAP benefits, instead of refunding that money to household earnings. Prop MM increases taxes for households making $300,000 or more annually to fund these programs. The Healthy School Meals program makes it so children K-12 are served free breakfasts and lunch, while support purchasing locally or state-grown produce to include in the meals and increasing the working wage for those providing them.

Overall, these elections will be a giant boost to Democrats who hope to limit the Trump adminstration’s efforts nationwide, both at the state level and by affecting the composition of Congress.