A Successful 2025

We went into 2025 with a great deal of uncertainty and concern, with understandable feelings of hopelessness and an urge to give up. Inevitably though, those in the political sphere weren't going to remain downbeaten for long and come January, the state level set the stage for the continuing fight for democracy. In Virginia, 2 out of 3 special elections were won by Democrat candidates for VA House District 26 and Senate District 32.

In our support of Virginia for the November elections, we saw incredible results. As a States Project Giving Circle, we raised crucial dollars for important electoral work that helped fund these winning campaigns.

Not only did we exceed expectations of the House chamber makeup, which went from 51 to 64 Democrats, but Virginia became the 16th Democratic trifecta after retaining the House of Delegates and electing Democrat Abigail Spanberger as Governor. Additionally, Democrat Ghazala Hashmi won Lieutenant Governor and Democrat Jay Jones won Attorney General.

November was a triumph overall, with New Jersey remaining a Democratic trifecta when Mikie Sherrill won the gubernatorial election and Democrats retained the New Jersey General Assembly.

That evening also brought Democratic success for New York City, who elected Zohran Mamdani as mayor. Democrats in deep-red Mississippi achieved significant progress by flipping two state senate seats and ending a 13-year Republican supermajority. California voters approved Proposition 50, which allowed the state to use a new, legislature-drawn congressional district map for 2026 through 2030. In Maine, voters rejected Question 1, which would have required voters to present photo identification for both in-person and absentee voting and would also have changed the rules for absentee voting and election ballot drop boxes.

As this year draws to a close, 95 state legislative special elections occurred throughout 2025 in 23 states, with 7 special elections this year resulting in a change of party control from Republican to Democrat in Iowa, Pennsylvania, Mississippi and Georgia.

More recently, Democrat John Ewing Jr. of Omaha, Nebraska defeated incumbent Republican Jean Stothert and Eric Gisler flipped a Georgia state House seat in a district Trump won.

Success did not just occur in state legislative special elections, or the various, closely watched ballot measures on November 4th.

Throughout the year and even through December, other wins have occurred:

Three Democratic justices won retention elections for the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

Democrat Eileen Higgins was elected to suceed Republican Francis Suarez for mayor of Miami.

Despite being non-partisan, the Wisconsin Supreme Court race resulted in a left leaning candidate winning against a well publicized campaign for the opposition financially backed by Elon Musk. In addition, although there were some projected gains that didn't result in wins, dramatic changes in voting margins were seen in Florida and Tennessee this year.

More details on specific outcomes can be found on Ballotpedia and we recommend checking out The Downballot podcast for state level news.

Our giving circle dollars did not only contribute to these successes and significant shifts. Showing up and getting involved, spreading the word of The States Project, state legislatures and state level governance has shown that we continute in the fight and with the hard work, which brings results. This year, State Fair and other Giving Circles held events, gathered people, wrote postcards and raised funds to help make this possible and the momentum is palpable. Going into 2026, we will build upon this work with optimism knowing the stage has been so well set for the Mid Terms.