This week, we’re thrilled by all of the election wins around the country—not just because Democrats won elections, but because the winning candidates were a diverse group who ran on progressive platforms. As Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor wrote,
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Fresh off of these victories, we’re going to take a little break for some much needed R&R over the holidays. In the meantime, feel free to drop us a line, and we’ll try to share some victories on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram too.
See you in 2019!
-Alison & Stephanie |
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1. We took the House! With ballots still coming in, it’s looking like Democrats will pick up between 35-40 House seats, the largest gains since the post-Watergate election. This NYT interactive shows the 222 seats Dems won thus far (compared to 196 Republican seats), as well as the 317 districts that moved left, by an average of 10 points.
2. On the state level, we saw 333 state House and Senate seats, seven governorships, and six legislative chambers flip from red to blue.
3. It's official: Florida's senate and gubernatorial races are off to a recount! And with races in Georgia, Utah, California, and Arizona still too close to call, we’re encouraged by the candidates and campaign leaders who are continuing to fight to make sure all votes are counted. This video is worth a watch.
4. And Election Day saw the highest turnout of voters in a midterm since 1966, which includes a huge increase in young people voting.
5. Democratic had a lot to contend with, from voter suppression to gerrymandering. But we were pleased to see a record 44% of businesses offered paid time off so their employees could vote, and 400 companies committed to boosting voter turnout. And metro systems, ride-sharing apps, and bike share operators offered free transportation the polls.
6. Groups like Our Revolution, DSA, Run for Something, and Indivisible helped propel progressive candidates to victory this week. Plus with 79% of the House candidates endorsed by Everytown for Gun Safety winning their elections—and 15 Republicans with A NRA ratings being replaced with 15 Dems with F ratings—a lot more gun control advocates are heading to Congress.
We’re so excited that one of them is our friend Lucy McBath, mother of Jordan Davis, who flipped her Georgia district—a seat that used to belong to Newt Gingrich!
7. We saw so many firsts:
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👉We elected a record number of women to serve in Congress—at least 100 women in the House and 12 in the Senate, with votes still being counted. (We’re not excited about this woman’s win though.)
👉Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar became the first Muslim women elected to Congress. Plus, Tlaib is the first Palestinian-American and Omar is the first Somali-American to win Congressional seats.
👉Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez became the youngest woman elected to the House of Representatives.
👉Sharice Davids became the first openly gay representative from Kansas, and along with Deb Haaland, they both became the first Native American women elected to Congress.
👉Colorado’s Jared Polis became the first openly gay governor in the country. #Sweet
👉Unseating a four-term incumbent, Lauren Underwood became the first woman and first black person to represent her majority-white district in Illinois.
👉And Juliana Stratton became Illinois’ first black Lt. Governor.
👉Chris Pappas won his House race, becoming the first openly gay congressman in New Hampshire.
👉In Minnesota, Angie Craig beat the guy that made this ludicrous comment about women—flipping her district from red to blue. By doing so, she became the first openly gay representative from the state.
👉Ayanna Pressley became the first black person representing Massachusetts in the House of Representatives.
👉Texans elected Veronica Escobar and Sylvia Garcia, the state’s first two Latina congresswomen. And this Congress will see the highest number of Latinx representatives in history.
👉19 black women ran in Houston’s judicial races—and every single one was elected.
👉Guam elected their first woman governor, flipping the seat from red to blue for the first time in 15 years.
👉Gerri Cannon and Lisa Bunker became the first transgender women elected to New Hampshire’s state House.
👉This year saw a record number of LGBTQ candidates on the ballot, leading to the most wins in history, with at least 153 candidates winning their races. #RainbowWave
👉Rachel Rollins became the first women of color elected as a district attorney in Massachusetts, and she intends to make some serious changes to the racist criminal justice policies in Suffolk County.
👉After this year’s teacher strike, 16 educators were elected to office in Oklahoma, leading to a record number overall in that state.
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8. And we’re so very happy to see these people get the boot:
👏In Nevada, Dean Heller lost to Democrat Jackie Rosen, in the only Senate seat flipped from red to blue.
👏Wisconsin governor and noted terrible person Scott Walker lost his re-election bid—and he couldn’t even contest it because of a law he passed.
👏The Kentucky county clerk who refused to issue marriage licenses to gay couples just lost her re-election bid.
👏One of the worst anti-immigrant candidates, Lou Barletta, lost his Senate race in Pennsylvania.
👏 It seems very likely that “Putin’s favorite congressman,” Dana Rohrabacher, lost his race to Democrat Harley Rouda.
👏One of the GOP’s worst politicians, Kris Kobach, lost his race for Kansas governor to Democrat Laura Kelly.
👏Representative Dave Brat, a guy who really wanted to repeal Obamacare, lost to his Democratic challenger Abigail Spanberger—flipping this seat from red to blue for the first time in 47 years.
👏In Wake County, NC, a five-term sheriff with a close and long-standing relationship with ICE was defeated, as were many other ICE-friendly sheriffs.
👏The most anti-marijuana congressman lost his House seat to Democrat and former NFL star Colin Allred.
👏Congressman Dan Donovan, whom you might remember as the DA who helped Eric Garner’s killer walk free, lost his seat after only one term.
👏 And this Texas state representative, who called ICE on protestors during a pro-immigrant rally last year, lost his seat.
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9. So many amazing ballot measures passed as well:
👍Floridians have re-enfranchised nearly 1.5 million people who served their time for felony convictions.
👍People in Washington voted to pass one of the strongest gun control packages in the country.
👍Colorado’s constitution is getting an update, as voters decided the state will no longer allow slavery and involuntary servitude—essentially, unpaid prison labor—if a person is convicted of a crime.
👍Arkansas and Missouri voters approved increases to their states’ minimum wages.
👍Nebraska, Utah, and Idaho voted to expand Medicaid.
👍Massachusetts became the first state in the country to protect transgender rights by popular vote.
👍Thanks to decades of organizing, including recent work from Black Lives Matter Nashville and SONG, Nashville voters approved a community oversight board to monitor police activity.
👍Louisiana overturned a Jim Crow-era law allowing non-unanimous jury convictions—here’s why this is so important.
👍People in Michigan, Maryland, and Nevada voted for measures making it easier for people to vote.
👍And Michigan and Missouri also passed proposals to combat gerrymandering and re-draw district maps.
👍Michigan became the 10th state to legalize recreational marijuana use, and medical marijuana is now legal in Missouri and Utah.
👍Nevada became the 10th state to get rid of a tax on feminine hygiene products.
👍A slew of states passed campaign finance reforms.
👍After Prop 10, an affordable housing act, didn’t pass in Los Angeles, people immediately kept up the fight—they took over the offices of Blackstone, a real estate firm who funded Prop 10’s opposition, and demanded housing justice now.
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10. Just two days after the election, a day after this guy was fired and this new guy was hired, thousands of people around the country were out protesting to protect the Mueller investigation. Thanks to Tuesday’s outcome, where Democrats won the power to investigate and potentially hold Trump accountable for his illegal behavior, we may have a better chance of doing that now.
11. The University of Virginia has banned Richard Spencer, and nine others involved in the Unite the Right rally, from coming on campus for four years.
12. A court ordered North Carolina to redraw four of the state’s districts before the 2020 election because they were found to be unconstitutional.
13. In direct opposition to the Trump administration’s plan to expand coastal drilling, Oregon’s governor announced the state is banning all drilling activities.
14. The Port Authority of NY & NJ has joined The Climate Group’s EV100 initiative, committing to switch to all electric vehicles and buses by 2030.
15. The emoluments case against Trump will continue to move forward thanks to a federal judge’s ruling.
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16. And another federal judge has temporarily blocked construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline, because the Trump administration didn’t provide adequate information on the risk of potential spills.
17. Following the devastating shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, PA, the community held a huge protest against Trump and his hateful rhetoric. Meanwhile, young Jewish people in New York City and Boston were arrested while sitting shiva to mourn those that lost their lives, and a Muslim American group raised over $200,000 for the victims.
18. Also, PayPal, GoDaddy, Medium, and others cut ties with the social network Gab, since the platform is a haven for white supremacists and neo-Nazis.
19. Months after Twitter gave him the boot, Gavin McInnes, the founder of the Proud Boys, is now also banned from Facebook and Instagram.
20. After a student-organized campaign and urging from New York City Council members, an upcoming Milo Yiannopoulos appearance at NYU was “postponed”—we hope indefinitely.
21. FedEx will no longer offer NRA members a discount.
22. Thanks to a lawsuit from the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Motel 6 will pay $7.6 million to Latinx guests after sharing their information with ICE. |
23. Three federal judges ruled that Trump can’t end DACA. The case isn’t over—now the Supreme Court will decide whether or not to hear it—but this is a huge win for Dreamers in the meantime.
24. After Google had an extremely problematic response to sexual assault accusations against this executive, more than 20,000 employees around the world walked out on the job—and won one of their biggest demands.
25. Following decades of pay discrimination in Glasgow, 8,000 mostly female public sector workers, and hundreds of male allies, turned out for one of the largest strikes ever in the UK demanding pay equity.
26. Scotland's first minister refused to participate in a conference that invited Steve Bannon to speak. |
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Small Victories is brought to you with support from Peace is Loud.
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