With headlines dominated by news about the war in Iran, food-borne illnesses, rising prices, and deported refugees, it’s easy to think that nothing good is happening right now. But Americans across the country have been making their voices heard and scoring victories against extremism — especially in this week’s elections.
Here are a few of the wins you might not have heard about.
In Sarasota Florida, a community just voted out their Moms for Liberty school board.
For years, the Sarasota school board has been synonymous with Moms for Liberty. One of the organization’s co-founders, Bridget Ziegler, has served as Board Chair since 2017 and Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis personally endorsed and financed the board’s most conservative members.
The school board put so many harmful policies into place, from banning books to working with ICE to the infamous “Don’t Say Gay” rule. But this week, neighbors pushed back against the extremism and voted in two new members: Megan Tennimon and Beth Mayberry, both former teachers and both strongly opposed to the Moms For Liberty playbook.
For the first time in years, the school board is majority Democratic and we are so excited to see what changes are in store for students and parents in Sarasota.
*
Meanwhile, in a special election near Pittsburgh, a Democratic candidate for state legislature flipped a Trump-leaning district… by only 88 votes. Every vote counts!
PA’s District 12 doesn’t just slightly lean Republican. They voted for Trump by 18 points in 2024. Registered Republican voters outnumber Democrats by 2 to 1, but lately Democrats have made gains in — where else?? — the suburbs.
This was a special election to replace GOP state Rep. Stephenie Scialabba, who resigned in April, and voters will have to elect Brandon Dukes again in November. It won’t be an easy battle — this week, he won by less than 100 votes out of almost 17,000 cast — but with this win, we’ve proven that it’s possible.
*
In Ohio, the state Supreme Court just unanimously dismissed a lawsuit challenging the reproductive rights amendment to their state constitution.
Red Wine & Blue fought alongside Ohioans to pass the amendment in 2023. It enshrines the right to contraception, fertility treatments, and abortion care in the Ohio state constitution and was voted for by a wide majority, 56% to 43%. Despite this clear mandate from Ohio voters, there have been many challenges to the amendment since it passed three years ago.
But with this latest victory from the state Supreme Court, the reproductive rights of Ohioans continue to stand.
*
In neighboring Michigan, the good news this week is that an amendment won’t make it on the ballot. Americans for Citizen Voting, a group pushing for proof of citizenship and tougher Michigan voter ID rules, failed to collect enough valid signatures to get their measure on the ballot in November.
The proposal would require verification of citizenship for all voters and tighten voter ID laws, measures that have been proven to disenfranchise lower-income and nonwhite voters rather than prevent election fraud. Time and time again, studies have shown that voter fraud is vanishingly rare in this country.
But it looks like the Americans for Citizen Voting’s petition won’t be successful. Many signatures appeared twice, and many more didn’t match the district they claimed to be registered in. Attorney Bob LaBrant, who challenged the group’s signatures, called it “a very, very sloppy petition drive for a group that had all sorts of financial resources.” Those resources include Restoration of America, a dark money group that encourages Americans to “turn to God” and “enforce just laws.”
Because of the issues with the signatures, the Michigan Bureau of Elections staff recommended that the petition shouldn’t appear on the ballot. The state’s bipartisan Board of State Canvassers is expected to reach a similar conclusion next week, which will officially keep the bad faith “voting security” measure off the table in November.
*
Across the country, communities are standing up for democracy and winning! There’s still so much work to do, but these wins show us that when we band together with our community and stand up for our values, winning isn’t just possible. It’s inevitable.