Last Night, Abortion Won

A deep dive into Democrats' election night landslide

Last night, voters across the country sent an undeniable message: they are over this shit. With Republicans holding the federal government hostage over demands from anti-abortion extremists, it’s clear who voters blame.

Democrats didn’t just win, they crushed Republicans—delivering a desperately-needed jolt of joy.

Americans turned out to reject fascism and reclaim democracy, from Virginia electing its first woman governor (who, importantly, is pro-choice!) to California voters staving off a GOP takeover of Congress. There were even causes for hope in states like Georgia—where Democrats won statewide elected office for the first time in two decades—and Mississippi, where Democrats finally broke the GOP’s supermajority in the state Senate.

But nothing shook conservatives more than Zohran Mamdani’s stunning New York City win: Republicans are already turning the mayor-elect into a national bogeyman, hoping that stoking racist and extremist fear might save them in the midterms.

We didn’t win everything, though: Texas codified ‘parental rights’ into the state constitution, allowing for even more attacks on young people’s rights and giving Republicans in other states a roadmap for how they might do the same.

We’re breaking down the biggest takeaways from last night—and feel free to share any other wins or losses that are on your mind in comments. To skip ahead to a particular state, just click on the headers:

- Virginia Rejects Anti-Abortion Extremism

- Abortion Rights Win in New Jersey

- GOP Deceit Loses in Pennsylvania

- Reproductive Justice Wins in New York City

- California May Save Us From a National Ban

- Southern State Wins Send a Clear Message

- Texas’ ‘Parental Rights’ Win is a Loss for the Whole Country

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Virginia Rejects Anti-Abortion Extremism

Virginia Republicans tried to make this election cycle about abortion—specifically, by framing abortion rights as extreme. You’d think that they would have learned their lesson from 2023, when they did the same.

But they didn’t, and they lost. In addition to electing Democrat Abigail Spanberger, Democrats won at least 13 seats in the legislature.

Here’s why Spanberger’s victory is so crucial—not just for Virginia, but for large swaths of the country: the state is the last in the South where abortion remains legal (through about 27 weeks). Virginia has become a haven for traveling abortion patients: Between 2023 and 2024, out-of-state abortions made up nearly a quarter of all procedures. And most of Virginia’s neighboring states restrict abortion: Florida and Georgia enforce six-week bans, North Carolina enforces a 12-week ban, and Tennessee enforces a total ban.

Spanberger’s ascension is a sharp rebuke to Republican Winsome Earle-Sears’ extremism. After all, the state’s current lieutenant governor very recently seemed to issue a violent threat to abortion patients: “Murder is murder. And one day it’s going to be your turn.”

In May, reading the room and recognizing the deep unpopularity of abortion bans, Earle-Sears denied that she wants to “limit access” to abortion. But at different points, she’s referred to abortion as “genocide,” backed 15 and six-week abortion bans, and sickeningly equated consent to sex with consent to pregnancy.

Attempting to conceal her extremism was just one of Virginia Republicans’ deceitful tactics. Over the past few months, the party has tried to manufacture scandal and rile up their anti-abortion base by pushing a fabricated story about a high school counselor paying for teens’ abortions. Earle-Sears openly celebrated the story as a boon to the Republican Party, while Youngkin ordered state police to investigate the school, and even the Trump administration got involved.

Again: None of that worked.

Democrats won over a dozen seats, turning their slim majority into a healthy one. That means abortion rights are sure to be on the 2026 ballot: Virginia law requires a measure to pass the legislature twice before being put to voters; Right to Reproductive Freedom Amendment has already passed once. (We’ll tell you more about this ballot measure in the coming days.)

Finally, Democrat Jay Jones defeated Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares: Electing pro-choice state AGs is crucial to protecting reproductive rights in a moment when pregnancy-related criminal charges are surging. It makes all the difference in the world to have a leader who directs law enforcement agencies not to prosecute pregnancy outcomes, over one who does.

It’s no wonder Planned Parenthood Advocates of Virginia celebrated Tuesday’s outcomes:

“Abortion was once again a defining issue in this election. Voters across Virginia chose candidates who will protect their rights and reject political interference in personal health care decisions.”

We’re thrilled for you, Virginia!

Abortion Rights Win in New Jersey

Thank goodness: Democrat Rep. Mikie Sherrill defeated Republican Jack Ciattarelli to become the next governor of New Jersey.

Abortion rapidly became a centerpiece of the gubernatorial election. That’s because right now, New Jersey is one of just nine states and D.C. that protects abortion rights without gestational limits.

While Sherrill pledged to protect abortion rights, Ciattarelli supported a 20-week ban, would have appointed anti-abortion judges, and made clear he wanted to defund Planned Parenthood. All while lying through his teeth at the gubernatorial debate last month that he’s “always supported a woman’s right to choose.”

Though some polls had put Sherrill and Ciattarelli neck-and-neck, we shouldn’t be too surprised by the governor-elect’s victory: A poll from 2023 shows a resounding three-quarters of New Jersey voters support a right to abortion.

We love to see it.

GOP Deceit Loses in Pennsylvania

In Pennsylvania, GOP lies weren’t enough to cost Democrats their 5-2 majority on the state Supreme Court. Every ten years, state Supreme Court justices face retention votes—and Justices Christine Donohue, Kevin Dougherty and David Wecht all handily won reelection.

If they’d lost, their seats would have become vacant, the state’s GOP-controlled Senate would have blocked Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro’s appointments, and Pennsylvania voters would have had to wait until November 2027 to elect replacement justices.

In the lead-up to the election, Republicans did their worst to try to confuse the electorate, including putting up signs that read “No Kings, No Retention.” The state GOP also sent mailers lying that a ‘no’ vote would put term limits on the justices, among other lies about their records.

The goal was to remove the liberal justices and install a right-wing, anti-abortion majority. As usual: Republicans know their anti-abortion extremism is unpopular, so they’re simply trying to rebrand it.

Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court has served as a crucial stop-gap for GOP extremism in the past. In 2020, after Pennsylvania cost Trump reelection, he filed a string of lawsuits attempting to steal the election. Thanks to its liberal majority, Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court rejected those efforts.

That majority also presents a crucial opportunity to expand Pennsylvanians’ rights: Just last year, the court ruled that the state’s ban on Medicaid funding for abortion could be considered sex-based discrimination under Pennsylvania’s Equal Rights Amendment. That case, which was kicked back to a lower court, is widely expected to make it back to the state Supreme Court—and a 5-2 majority bodes pretty well for a good decision.

Congrats, Pennsylvania!

Reproductive Justice Wins in New York City

As two New Yorkers, we couldn’t be more thrilled that Democrat Zohran Mamdani defeated serially accused sexual predator Andrew Cuomo. We don’t think anyone’s hearts could take another sex pest being elected.

As Mamdani put it in his victory speech last night, his campaign defeated a political dynasty: a bully endorsed by anti-abortion extremists like Donald Trump and Elon Musk.

As we noted earlier this week, reproductive justice was on the ballot with the NYC mayoral race: Mamdani has pledged to roll out a universal child care program if elected—a policy that would benefit everyone, but especially women. (Who are all too often pushed out of the workforce by gendered demands for their domestic labor and astronomical costs of child care.) Mamdani also proposed ‘baby baskets’ for new parents.

Reproductive justice demands that each of us be able to decide whether and when to have children—with all the rights and resources we need to do so in safe, healthy communities. And while Mamdani’s opponents have long attacked his history of activism against Israeli war crimes, as advocates have long pointed out, reproductive justice has no borders. Pregnant people in Gaza have as much a right to give birth and raise their families in safe, healthy communities as any of us do.

Mamdani ran—and won—on a message of hope over fear, and community over division. His campaign appeared to reach large swaths of voters who had otherwise felt long abandoned by the Democratic Party: New York City saw the highest turnout since 1969.

That’s why you can expect to see Republicans using Mamdani as a national bogeyman: Politico reports that the GOP is already positioning the mayor-elect as the face of Democrats ahead of the midterms, ramping up their campaign of fear.

But that’s exactly the sort of fearmongering voters overwhelmingly defeated by electing Mamdani on Tuesday, and we’ll continue to do just that.

The joy across the city last night was palpable and electrifying—and we can’t wait to see how many more young, bold progressives Mamdani’s victory inspires to run for office across the country.

California May Save Us From a National Ban

It took mere minutes after the polls closed for news outlets to call Prop 50’s win—that’s how resoundingly Democrats won. The ballot measure will allow California to redraw its map in a manner that benefits Democrats—an effort to stave off a Republican takeover of Congress.

The stakes of California’s Prop 50 couldn’t have been higher: Gov. Gavin Newsom’s push to redraw key districts in the state could determine whether Republicans in Congress are able to pass a national abortion ban. That’s because Republican-led states like Texas, Missouri, North Carolina, and Ohio have redrawn their congressional maps—a tactic to give the GOP a majority in the U.S. House. With that majority would come an almost unfettered ability to restrict or ban abortion.

As we mentioned on Monday, first on the GOP agenda would likely be Sen. Lindsey Graham’s 15-week abortion ban, or a bill like it—a clear-cut ban that Republicans would frame instead as a “minimum national standard.”

No matter what they’d call it, a Republican majority would mean a national abortion ban. Passing Prop 50 is a key first step stopping that from happening—and next year’s midterm elections will be, too.

Southern State Wins Send a Clear Message

Democrats didn’t just win in states like New York and California (and Virginia… and New Jersey and Pennsylvania!!!)—they also made waves in Georgia and Mississippi.

Let’s start with Georgia. Approximately one year after the state went for Trump, two Democrats—Peter Hubbard and Alicia Johnson—defeated GOP incumbents to secure spots on the Georgia Public Service Commission.

Hubbard and Johnson are now the first Democrats who have won statewide elections to serve in a state-level office in Georgia since 2006. Johnson is the first Black woman elected to a partisan, statewide office in Georgia. They won with a staggering 63% of the vote.

The Georgia Public Service Commission primarily oversees Georgians’ access to electricity, gas, and telecommunications services. But this outcome still bodes well for reproductive rights: Georgia voters are activated, and fed up with the Republican Party.

Next year, all eyes will be on Georgia again with Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff—a reliable leader on reproductive rights throughout his first term—up for reelection, and anti-abortion organizations already spending heavily to try to oust him.

Over in Mississippi, Democrats have broken the GOP’s supermajority in the state Senate for the first time in 13 years—flipping two seats by resounding margins. In Senate District 2, Democrat Theresa Isom won with 63% of the vote to Republican Charlie Hoots’ 37%. And in Senate District 45, Democrat Johnny DuPree won with 71% of the vote to Republican Anna Rush’s 29%. Democrat Justin Crosby also decisively flipped House District 22.

These victories come after court-ordered redistricting earlier this year, stemming from a 2022 lawsuit brought by the Mississippi NAACP demanding the establishment of new Black-majority districts.

Even as Mississippi Republicans retain decisive control of both the House and Senate, without a supermajority in the Senate, they’re going to need some kind of bipartisan cooperation.

This is also an important piece of progress more broadly: Mississippi was among the first states in the nation to enact a sweeping abortion ban post-Dobbs—and, in fact, was the state that brought Dobbs about. Any amount of chipping away at the stronghold of anti-abortion extremism there is cause for celebration.

From Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee President Heather Williams:

“The balance of power in Mississippi is shifting away from extremism and chaos and toward champions of working families, driven by Democrats’ steadfast commitment to their communities. Mississippians are sending a clear message that, from blue states to red states, voters are ready to stand up against Republicans’ extreme agenda and hold them accountable.”

Texas’ ‘Parental Rights’ Win is a Loss for the Whole Country

Democrats didn’t win everything last night: Texas’ Prop 15 was a huge loss for young people in the state. The ballot measure—which overwhelmingly passed—codified ‘parental rights’ into the state constitution, and opened the door for even further attacks on the rights of young people in the state.

The measure guarantees a parent’s right “to exercise care, custody, and control of the parent’s child, including the right to make decisions concerning the child’s upbringing.” But as reproductive rights advocates told Mother Jones, the amendment will make it more difficult for teens to access sex education and contraception. It could even allow “another parent’s personal beliefs to strip rights from other people’s children and their families.”

We’re just devastated for Texas.

The vote also has a national impact: conservatives across the country have gone all in on ‘parental rights’ as a tactic and talking point to undermine reproductive rights and access to gender-affirming care. This has been their leading message in nearly every pro-choice ballot measure since Dobbs!

Prop 15’s win will almost certainly solidify that strategy among GOP leaders and lawmakers. It’s vital that we’re thinking proactively about how to stop it.

(If you’d like to support an organization that works to protect young people’s reproductive rights in Texas, check out Jane’s Due Process.)