Democracy Fought Back Last Night And Won Everywhere
Voters delivered a strategic firewall for 2026. Virginia's historic sweep, Pennsylvania's court protection, and California's Prop 50 just redrew the entire midterm battlefield.
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TL;DR
Amid bomb threats, voter intimidation, and chaos, Americans showed up to vote. From Virginia to California, democracy fought back, democracy has teeth! The resistance is alive, and the people are writing history again.
Her name was Margaret.
I met her around 4 p.m. outside a polling place in Richmond, Virginia, one of several that had been evacuated earlier that day because of bomb threats.
She’d been in line since noon.
When someone suggested she could go home and come back later, she looked at them like they’d asked her to abandon her grandchildren in a burning building.
“Young lady,” she said, “I stood in line to register Black voters in Mississippi in 1964. They had guns. These people today? They just have threats.”
Then she smiled.
“Besides, I want to see that woman governor get sworn in.”
As I wrote last night, with election results still rolling in, I kept thinking about Margaret and what hundreds of other Americans like her must have been feeling.
Many of us braced for chaos and feared that democracy’s defenders might stay home. But that is far from what happened.
Commentators will frame this as a story about policy about federal workers angry over shutdowns or suburban women rejecting extremism.
They’re not entirely wrong.
But they’re missing the story that Margaret, and millions like her, wrote in real time.
Virginia Fights Back and Wins
In Virginia, the same Virginia that elected a Republican governor just four years ago, didn’t just choose any new governor last night. They chose their first woman governor.
Abigail Spanberger.
Former CIA case officer. The kind of person who spent her career protecting democracy, now stepping into her new role to defend it.
A 14-point victory.
In a state where 320,000 federal workers just worked through a government shutdown without paychecks and where families watched their savings evaporate under tariff-driven inflation. Where every single attempt to intimidate voters only made them more determined to vote.
It gets better, she didn’t win alone.
Ghazala Hashmi became America’s first Muslim woman elected to statewide office as Virginia’s lieutenant governor.
Despite every obstacle, Jay Jones rose to the moment and made history as Virginia’s first Black attorney general. A defining win for justice and progress.
Virginia swept every single statewide office blue.
Last Night Was an Incredible Victory!
Four years ago, Republicans controlled all three of these offices. Now tonight, Democrats hold them all.
This is the same pattern playing out everywhere voter suppression tried and failed to take root.
New Jersey Refuses to Flinch
Out in New Jersey, Mikie Sherrill won the governorship by 14 points.
Navy helicopter pilot. Federal prosecutor. The kind of person who doesn’t just talk about service, she’s lived it.
Her campaign was blunt: Stand up to federal overreach, protect workers, make life affordable again.
New Jersey voters heard her. And despite polls tightening in the final days, despite the Republican candidate’s attacks, despite everything, she won decisively.
But wait.
Remember those bomb threats I mentioned? The ones that shut down Margaret’s polling place?
They hit New Jersey too. In seven counties.
Multiple polling sites forced to evacuate. Voters told to come back later.
You know what happened?
The polls stayed open late. People got back in line and a judge ordered extended voting hours. Democracy adapted and persisted.
When a Democratic Socialist Beats a Dynasty
New York City,
Zohran Mamdani just became mayor of the largest city in America.
He’s 34 years old.
He calls himself a democratic socialist.
He’s the city’s first Muslim mayor.
And he beat Andrew Cuomo. Twice.
First in the Democratic primary in June. Then again last night when Cuomo ran as an independent and thought he could steal it back.
The turnout? Over 2 million people voted.
That’s the highest New York City mayoral election turnout since 1969.
Trump called Mamdani a “communist.” Elon Musk’s super PACs spent millions trying to defeat him. The former president literally threatened to withhold federal funds from the city if Mamdani won.
New Yorkers voted for him anyway.
That’s a middle finger to political intimidation.
What gave you the most hope watching democracy fight back last night? When did you first realize this election night wasn’t going the way Trump hoped it would?
💬 Your stories remind people that courage is contagious. Share what moment restored your faith in democracy last night.
Courts That Guard Democracy
Last night gets really important for the future with Pennsylvania.
In Pennsylvania, voters faced a critical choice to retain three Democratic state Supreme Court justices, or remove them and risk flipping the court that decides voting rights, redistricting, and election law.
This court struck down Republican gerrymandered maps in 2018.
This court upheld mail voting laws.
This court overturned Medicaid abortion restrictions.
Pennsylvania voters responded by retaining all three justices.
The 5-2 Democratic majority survives.
Which means the court that will hear challenges about the 2026 midterms and the 2028 presidential election remains intact.
This is a victory we will feel for many years to come.
California Just Changed the Map
And then there’s California.
While everyone was watching the governor races,
California voters approved Proposition 50.
You might be thinking: “What’s Proposition 50?” and why are Republicans furious right now over this?
Earlier this year, Trump pushed Texas Republicans to redraw their congressional maps mid-decade and so they did. Five Democratic-leaning House seats suddenly became Republican strongholds.
And now California just returned the favor.
Prop 50 redraws five California congressional districts to favor Democrats, not in 2032 after the census, but starting in 2026.
These maps will be in place for the next three election cycles: 2026, 2028, and 2030.
Translation: California could flip 5 Republican House seats to Democratic control just as the 2026 midterms hit.
Republicans currently control the House 219-213. That’s a 6-seat margin.
If these maps deliver what they’re designed to deliver, Democrats could take back the House in 2026. California voters in a special election with $138 million spent on the “Yes” campaign backed by Governor Newsom and President Obama basically said “Two can play this game.”
This is how a democracy checks executive overreach. This was about fighting gerrymandering with the only tool that works when the other side plays dirty, through strategic counter-moves: voting.
Georgia Flips the Script
Georgia, where voting rights battles have raged for years, where Republican officials fought tooth and nail to maintain control, just elected Democrats to both seats on the Public Service Commission.
You might be thinking: “What’s the Public Service Commission?”
It’s the body that sets electricity rates. Gas prices. Utility costs.
Since 2022 when elections for these seats were paused because courts ruled the system violated the Voting Rights Act, the all-Republican commission approved six utility rate hikes.
Last night, Alicia Johnson beat a 14-year Republican incumbent with 59% of the vote.
Peter Hubbard ousted another Republican incumbent with 59% of the vote.
Identical margins with crushing victories.
About 900,000 Georgia voters turned out for a special election that had nothing else on the ballot.
Nine hundred thousand Georgians voted in an off-year special election for utility commissioners.
What the Intimidation Actually Accomplished
Now let me tell you what we were afraid of and what actually happened last night.
There were bomb threats. Multiple counties in New Jersey. Polling places evacuated.
There were reports of voter roll issues. Some voters showing up to find themselves mysteriously removed from registration lists.
There were fake “No Kings” signs in Pennsylvania trying to trick voters into voting against Supreme Court retention.
The DOJ deployed “election monitors” to California and New Jersey, a move many saw as voter intimidation dressed up as oversight.
And here’s what all that accomplished:
Absolutely nothing.
The voters who were told to go home? They stayed in line.
The polling places that faced threats? They reopened.
The disinformation campaigns? Voters saw through them.
Every single attempt to suppress, intimidate, or confuse voters failed because Americans refused to let their democracy be stolen.
When Spanberger’s victory was announced, I was still at that Richmond polling place.
A small crowd had gathered, watching returns on our phones. When NBC called it, someone shouted the news.
Margaret, who’d finally voted earlier that evening and decided to stick around anyway, let out a sound I can only describe as a war cry.
Then she grabbed my arm.
“You tell people,” she said. “You tell them we did this. And we’ll do it again in 2026. And 2028. And every election after that until these people understand: you cannot intimidate Americans out of democracy.”
These Numbers Tell the Story of the People:
Virginia: 14-point Democratic sweep. All three statewide offices flipped.
New Jersey: 14-point gubernatorial win. Despite tightening polls.
New York City: Highest turnout in 56 years. Over 2 million votes.
Pennsylvania: All three Supreme Court justices retained. 5-2 Democratic majority protected.
California: Prop 50 passes. Five congressional districts redrawn to favor Democrats for 2026-2030.
Georgia: Both Public Service Commission seats flipped. 59% margins. 900,000 turnout for a special election.
What Does This Tell us About 2026
These results are a preview, not a conclusion.
Spanberger takes office in January. She’ll face a divided legislature. She’ll need Virginians mobilized to pass her agenda.
Sherrill inherits a Republican state Senate in New Jersey. She’ll need voters engaged in 2027 to win state legislative seats.
Mamdani becomes mayor of a city with massive challenges. He’ll need New Yorkers involved in local government like never before.
Those Pennsylvania Supreme Court justices are only safe if Democrats hold the governor’s office. Josh Shapiro’s on the ballot in 2026.
And California? California just handed Democrats a roadmap to take back the House.
If Prop 50’s redistricting delivers and if those 5 redrawn districts flip from Republican to Democratic in 2026, the House could switch from GOP control (219-213) to Democratic control.
Georgia’s Public Service Commission still has three Republican members. More seats come up in 2026 and 2028.
Tonight’s victories are just the beginning.
Organizing works. Showing up to vote is something we need to keep doing.
To Everyone Who Made This Possible
To the poll workers who stayed calm when threats came in, voters who stood in four-hour lines when you could have gone home, the election officials who worked long hours, thank you!
And to people like Margaret, and the millions like her who’ve seen worse and refused to back down, thank you.
You did this.
The Question We Have to Answer Now
There’s something Abigail Spanberger said last night in her victory speech that I can’t stop thinking about.
“Tonight,” she said, “we sent a message. We sent a message to the whole world that in 2025 Virginia chose pragmatism over partisanship. We chose our Commonwealth over chaos.”
That word: chose.
Not hoped, wished, or waiting for someone else to fix it.
Chose.
That’s the lesson of November 4, 2025.
Democracy survives when we choose it. When we show up even when it’s hard. When we stand in line even when it’s long. When we refuse to let fear determine whether we vote.
You make choices every day.
The choice to pay attention. The choice to stay informed. The choice to talk to people who don’t agree with you. The choice to show up in 2026 even though it’s “just” the midterms.
Last night proved that we can win when we organize. Now let’s sustain it.
Someone has to be Willing to Wait.
One more thing Margaret said,
I asked her why she trusted the process and chose to wait for those long hours instead of thinking the threat might keep people away.
“Because maybe someone younger than me saw me standing here,” she said. “And maybe they thought, if that old lady can wait four hours, I can wait an hour. I can wait two hours. I can do my part.”
Then she added, “That’s how movements work, young lady. Someone has to stand in line first. Someone has to show everyone else it’s possible. Someone has to be willing to wait.”
I thought about the two million people who voted in New York City.
The 900,000 who turned out for Georgia’s special election.
The voters who stood firm after bomb threats in New Jersey.
The Pennsylvanians who protected their Supreme Court despite pressure to vote no.
Everyone waiting. Everyone showing the next person it was possible.
That’s what democracy looks like.
Not a single heroic moment. But millions of small acts of citizenship that add up to something incredible.
THANK YOU
To everyone who continues to show up in the voting booths, in conversations, and in quiet acts of courage. You are the reason democracy is alive and that progress doesn’t happen by accident. It’s because of activists like you keeping our country from falling off course. You are the heartbeat of this movement.
What was your election day experience? Did you vote? Stand in line? See something that restored your faith? Drop it in the comments. We want to hear your Margaret story.
Diversity is what shapes us, challenges us, and makes us better. Every marginalized group matters. Last night, voters chose leaders who fight for EVERYONE.
Congratulations America for the win!
You cannot intimidate Americans out of democracy.
Our next chapter begins now. Every act of voting, sharing, and speaking up keeps democracy alive. Let’s keep proving that America still continues to choose progress.
Last night’s election reminded us that the heartbeat of democracy still pulses strong. No matter how loud the noise or deep the division, people showed up, driven by conviction, hope, and the belief that their voice matters. Every ballot cast was a statement that freedom endures when citizens refuse apathy.
Democrats won even in red Flathead county Montana.