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Good morning, Roca Nation. Here are today’s four need-to-know stories:
A new study showed that cancer patients who received Covid vaccines survived nearly twice as long as unvaccinated patients
The FAA ordered flight reductions at 40 major US airports due to staffing shortages
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will not seek reelection, ending nearly 40 years in Congress (free)
A UN emissions report found that the world will likely surpass the 1.5°C warming threshold within the next decade (free)
By Rob McGreevy
Four races dominated election-related headlines this week: New York City’s mayoral, Virginia’s gubernatorial and attorney general, and New Jersey’s gubernatorial. And in these places, it was a blue wave, with Democrats easily winning all four contests.
But Tuesday was about far more than just those races. Americans in 29 other states voted on ballot measures, mayoral candidates, State Supreme Court justices, school boards, and other municipal officials. Examining those votes may say much more about the state of American politics than three races in solidly blue jurisdictions.
In today’s deep-dive, we’re going to zoom around this great nation to see what Americans voted for and to try to map out the impact these races will have on 2026, 2028, and beyond.
We start in California.
The nation’s most populous state voted on Proposition 50, a ballot measure that would let the state’s legislature redraw the congressional district map for 2026 through 2030. Redistricting typically takes place after the census is conducted every 10 years, but California was responding to a similar move by Texas, which recently redrew districts in order to gain more Republican House seats.
In a race that drew over 8M Californians – more than the total that voted in New Jersey and Virginia’s gubernatorial races and New York’s mayoral race combined – to the polls, 64% voted “yes.”
The move will redraw the map, likely turning five Republican House seats into Democratic ones. Republicans mourned their pending loss of representation (much as Democrats did in Texas this summer) while Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), who campaigned aggressively for the measure, called it “a victory for the people of the state of California and the United States of America.”
But California was but one race with national implications.
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Editor’s Note
All of this goes to show that the country is much bigger than Zohran’s New York. Hopefully you learned something interesting here! And speaking of “much bigger than New York” – we are going to be on the ground in Arkansas and Mississippi in the coming weeks. Are you a reader in either of those states? We’d love to meet you. Please get in touch with us here.
And if you want to check out our latest articles, find them here:
Thanks for reading. See you tomorrow.
—Max and Max
