The Bubble Has Popped
This has been a BANNER WEEK for Good Queer News. There will be more fight tomorrow, but let's CELEBRATE today!
It really is a good morning, isn’t it? The sun is breaking over a new day in more ways than one, and it feels freakin fantastic. Thursday did not disappoint. It’s never impossible for me to find good news, but sometimes it takes a long time for me to really parse through the sources and collect good stories. Today, my biggest challenge has been trying to concentrate the absolutely massive list of victories into just one article.
I’m going to try to summarize the victories as best as I can and, as always, add a bit of context on just how much they matter and what it means that we’re winning in these areas. The number one thing I want us to take away from this election is that it is time to get rid of the phrase, “I’m in a bubble”. As a key part of my work, I go a lot of random places. So often, I’m in these red states or small towns or rural areas that are already surprising me, and people say to me, “well, we actually have a really supportive bubble here. Our community is amazing. But if you look over there at that state, that city, that’s where the really bad, hateful people are.”
So then what do I do? I go there. I go to that state. I go to that town. I go to that area, and I talk to the people. And they say, “well, you know, we’ve got an amazing bubble here. It’s so supportive. It’s so compassionate. There’s plenty of people showing up to our rallies. But if you go over there, they’re really outside of the bubble.”
And you can probably fill in the blanks by now when I say that I go there, and I find amazing love and advocates for change there too. This country is not a red ocean filled with burstable blue bubbles. This country is full of human people who have had enough and are ready to see something different. Yes, of course there are places where that’s easier than others—I lived in Missouri, I promise I get it—but nowhere in this country is worth writing off entirely.
We’ve done amazing work with our messaging, with deep canvassing, with campaigning on a platform of care for all your neighbors instead of throwing trans people under the bus “just in case”. So many of the wins that matter most to me are in areas where people did not give up on their own communities, deciding it was worth it to run for their school board, for their city council, and those are the victories I really want to celebrate. They didn’t listen to anyone telling them they were outside of the bubble, and they won in droves.
The biggest wins
Leading off with our major victories and why they matter, California prop 50, which is the least surprising but still still highly impactful victory, will essentially counteract Texas’ new gerrymandering effort, and give Democrats a chance to play offense. So the five Republican seats, Texas fought to get. California will make up for in five new gerrymandered Democrat seats. This is fantastic exclamation point. Nothing about that race was surprising, but it’s still really great.
Next, we have Virginia. This was a race that we were watching really closely, and as I talked about quite a bit, bore significant weight. The Republican candidate significantly focused their campaign on attacking transgender people as many Republicans did in elections past. But the fact that she lost by over 13 points is a strong indication that this scapegoating strategy isn’t going to work anymore. It doesn’t necessarily mean Republicans are going to like us more, but hopefully it sends a message that voters are sick of scapegoating and ready to talk about real issues.
Also, now that Virginia has a full sweep of democratic victories, governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, and senate (where they flipped a record-breaking THIRTEEN SEATS) They’re going to be able to join the coalition of blue states working to push back against Donald Trump’s agenda and find creative new ways to protect their residents. Also, Virginia Democrats securing their state senate means that they’ll have the ability to pass new maps as well to fight back against Republican gerrymandering. Really thrilled about that win.
New Jersey also smashed polling expectations. Many expected the race to be tight, and much of the republican candidate’s campaign focused on anti-LGBTQ+ advertising as well as overall cruelty— including posting the Social Security number and address of Mikie Sherril, the democratic candidate, and her family. Sherril ultimately won by over 13% of the vote! Way to go NJ!!!
Pennsylvania retained all three of their Democratic Supreme Court justices. Which will be absolutely incredible at preventing corruption and voter suppression.
New York City elected an incredibly progressive, vocally pro-trans, pro-immigrant, pro-humanity candidate for mayor with Zohran Mamdani. While countless billionaires and oligarchs poured money in to stop him, his campaign focused on affordability and unity and going to talk to the working people that keep NYC so vibrant. This mayoral election had the highest voter turnout in 50 YEARS, and will add to the growing list of evidence that progressive politics are worth fighting for in the democratic party—and aren’t the boogeyman you’ve heard about.
The “Little” Wins that Are Anything but Little
These were probably the big elections that you’ve likely heard other people talk about before. But there were also huge lists of school board candidates, city councils, and more where everyday people decided to run, and then they did. School boards across Ohio, Virginia, Utah, Connecticut, and more, including many races that had significant financial contributions and leadership driven by moms for liberty.
Here are just a few of those hard-fought local wins that I’ve been rounding up. For each win on your list, I want you to ask yourself if you’d usually put them outside of your bubble. I want you to recognize what it feels like when that bubble pops.
Bucks County, PA flipped their school board and all five “row offices” for roles like DA and sheriff.
Also in PA, Downingtown has elected Erica Deuso, they first trans mayor in the state’s history!
Georgia flipped two seats on the public utility commission for the first time in 25 years
Aurora, Colorado defeated EVERY CONSERVATIVE running for city council!!
Hilliard, Ohio flipped the entire city council!
Maine overwhelmingly passed a “red flag” gun law while blocking an attempt at voter suppression
Mississippi has flipped three legislative districts and broke their GOP supermajority! As someone who lived in a supermajority state for a while, I can’t tell you how big of a win this is.
In cincinnati, JD Vance’s brother lost his mayoral election 78-22. Get shreked!
Enfield, CT broke a GOP supermajority and flipped their school board and city council!
In the ruby-red suburbs of Cincinnati, school boards, city hall, and judicial all flipped!
According to Jess Craven, the VA senate was expecting to flip 8 seats, best case scenario. THEY FLIPPED 13.
Ogden Utah, 3 young, liberal folks flipped conservative seats for city council!
Grove City, Ohio flipped three school board seats!
North Carolina had SO many flipped spots, including mayor of Burlington, Greensboro city council, mayor of Graham, and Hickory alderperson (among many others!!)
In Virginia, huge numbers of pro-trans school board candidates won their races, including in Loudon County and Arlington County
Atlanta, GA and Akron, OH elected their first nonbinary council member
Troy, NY flipped their city council
All republicans ousted from the Pennridge school district in PA
Pinerichland PA school district flipped from 8-1 maga to 5-4 democratic majority!
Do you feel that bubble popping yet?
As I watched the results pour in over the past few days, and saw our across the board victories, I’ve found a source of hope that is so big, I can’t fit my arms around it. So many of the people who ran these races are normal people just like you and I. First time candidates working with organizations like LGBTQ+ Victory Institute or Run For Something or maybe they just made it up on their own. Maybe even some of my own subscribers here are people that ran. (There’s at least one, Congrats Danielle!!)
So many of these individuals are people who saw what happened last November and got angry and then said, “fuck that. I can do better.” And then they did. They decided to figure out what it meant to run. They decided to go and talk to their neighbors, even the ones they thought would never agree with them.
They decided to ask what was actually care what was actual what they were actually worried about, what they were struggling with, how they needed help with their groceries, or what would make their child feel safer in school. They ran on listening. They ran on not being afraid to stand up for their trans constituents. They ran on affordability or community care. And not writing off entire parts of the country as not worth even trying because they aren’t in the bubble.
And then they won. And it has been spectacular to watch.
I don’t want us to think of these victories as an inevitable response to people just automatically realizing that Trump is kind of a piece of shit without their best interests at heart. This happened because we worked incredibly hard to reach people, to explain to them the impact on their groceries, on their Social Security, on their health care, on their families, their neighbors, their communities, and their relationships.
We worked hard to make this election what it was, and I firmly believe we will have the ability to do so again in the midterms next year. This is incredible.
Take this as a reminder: when we fight, we win. It will always be worth fighting.
Hold on to how this feels today. This is a result of the amazing work that we’ve all been doing.
It will feel like this again.
It will also feel very far from this again.
Both moments—the highs and the lows—will coexist. Everyone in this country, every place in this country, deserves to feel safe. This election is really showing us how possible that is, and we will keep fighting for these wins and keep finding them.
If you take one thing away from this week, I hope it’s this: the bubble has popped. Maybe it never actually existed in the first place. Social media radicalization has painted a picture of a country with hardly more than some coastal havens and midwestern pockets of people who care about others, but in fact, good people are everywhere.
So we will keep finding them, we will keep fighting for them, and we will keep freakin’ winning. I’m so proud of us. There will absolutely be more to do. There is more fight to come, but I am so proud of what we’ve done. Please don’t forget to celebrate. This is amazing.
P.S. If there’s a local race that I’ve missed—because there are just so many of them, which is a problem I love to have—please let me know. I love hearing about this.
Thanks to all of you. Congratulations, and we’ll keep fighting again tomorrow.
With all my love and all my joy,
Ben
Such an incredible list of victories that are absolutely worth celebrating! And you’re right, there are good people everywhere, and right alongside them, plenty of people who aren’t friends *yet*. We can build a better world together!
My town defeated anti-LGBTQ+ politicians who are in favor of conversion therapy and book bans. The people here realized that bigotry doesn't pay the bills.