Wednesday, November 4th, 2026 at 8:00 PM PST

🇺🇸 Hope

A screenshot from Apple News with the title, 'How the nation shifted from 2024,' followed by a map of the United States that shows the percentage-point change in margin between the 2026 House races and the 2024 presidential election by county. Each county is represented by etther a blue arrow pointing up and to the left or a red arrow pointing up and to the right for Democratic and Republican shifts, respectfully. The length of each arrow represents the change in margin (longer means more change) and the thickness of the arrow indicates total votes. The map is overwhelmingly covered in blue arrows, with only a few small red arrows peeking through here and there (with one long, solitary red arrow in Alaska being the exception).

I keep going back to stare at the map shown above in Apple News. It's wonderful to see how dramatically most of the country shifted their stance in the recent election. Opening the News app and smiling is a strange sensation, but a welcome one!

Zooming in, look at this list of amazing things:

Democrats will control both the House and the Senate
Many states that have been run by Republicans for decades flipped significantly or entirely
Most AI and crypto super PAC money was wasted on losing candidates
Elon Musk spent about $224 million for a red Texas but it came out blue
Data center construction measures met a huge backlash and failed almost everywhere they were on the ballot
First openly-trans person elected to the House in Michigan: Joanna Whaley
First openly-trans person elected to the House in Alabama: Allison Montgomery
First openly-trans person elected to the House in Washington: Jaelynn Scott
First openly-trans person elected to the House in Wisconsin: Dina Nina Martinez-Rutherford
First openly-trans person elected to public office in Florida: Quinnie Pérez
First openly-nonbinary and first Japanese-American lawmaker in Georgia: Bentley Huggins
First female senator in South Carolina: Annie Andrews
First female governor in Ohio: Amy Acton
First female governor in Minnesota: Amy Klobuchar
First female governor in Tennessee: Marsha Blackburn
First openly gay senator: Chris Pappas
First openly gay member of Congress in Michigan: Jeremy Moss
First Native American woman to become a senator: Peggy Flanagan in Minnesota
First Native American woman elected to Congress: Claire Valdez
First Native American female governor: Deb Haaland (she was also the first Native American in a U.S. Cabinet position prior to this latest win)
First Muslim senator: Abdul El-Sayed
First Muslim member of Congress in New Jersey: Adam Hamawy
First Hispanic member of Congress in Nebraska: Denise Powell
First Hispanic governor in Texas: Gina Hinojosa
First Hispanic governor in California: Xavier Becerra
First Black woman to become governor: Keisha Lance Bottoms in Georgia
First Black governor in Wisconsin: David Crowley
First Black governor in Nevada: Aaron Ford
First Black governor in Maryland: Wes Moore
First Black governor in Florida: Byron Donalds
Illinois will be the first state represented by two women of color in the Senate with the election of Juliana Stratton (she joins Tammy Duckworth)
This is the first time three Black women will serve as senators simultaneously
Kansas will have it's first Democratic senator in 94 years: Adam Hamilton
Texas will have it's first Democratic senator in 32 years: James Talaric
South Carolina will have it's first Democratic senator in 28 years: Annie Andrews
This will be the first time five Black governors serve simultaneously
This will be the first time 17 (or more!) women will serve as state governors simultaneously

That's just the stuff I could find that's been confirmed the day after the midterms. There are probably many other noteworthy things I missed.

There are also lots of interesting things coming up:

If Scott Colom wins Mississippi would have its first Black senator in 151 years (since 1875)
- It's incredibly close as I write this; one of many examples during these midterms that every vote counts!
Hakeem Jeffries might be the first Black speaker of the House
We have a chance to elect future presidents based on the popular vote instead of using the Electoral College system

Now, all of that said, things aren't going to get better immediately, and there's still a lot that didn't go well during these midterms. A few really disappointing things that stood out to me include several anti-trans measures being passed in various places, the billionaire tax in California doesn't look like it's going to pass, and it looks like most white men are still voting Republican despite the overall shifts we saw yesterday.

On top of that, Republicans have and will do many things to sabotage progress and further their own agenda at the expense of others. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) Republicans signed into law back in July of 2025 has many staggered beginning and end dates, and many of them were purposefully scheduled to happen after the midterms. A lot of these things were delayed to minimize the negative effect on the midterms (which, thankfully, didn't work) and, in the event of a redistribution of power, to make Democrats in office look powerless when these things take effect.

There's a long road ahead. It's going to take time for the folks elected yesterday to take office, and more time still for them to have a substantial impact. There's a big mess to clean up and a lot of hard work to do. The amazing shift we saw in these midterm elections was just one step—a huge step—on the journey to a better world. There are many steps that still need to be taken in the months, years, and decades ahead. Stay strong, stay focused, and keep moving forward.

But now, right now, let's enjoy the overall win. For the first time in a while, despite the lingering problems and issues, I have hope that this country can turn itself around and make some progress toward a better world.