Happy Hump Day, Shit Givers.
First, let’s all just take a moment to bask in last night’s big wins: Democrats took back the House and the Senate, flipped battleground seats in places like Texas and South Carolina, and picked up wins up and down the ballot.
Let yourself feel some hope and joy, you deserve it! Dare I say, millennial optimism is back?
And then remind yourself, that just because we had a good Tuesday, doesn’t mean the fight stops here. Power is a tool, not a trophy, so let’s make the most of it.
Let’s go.
— Willow
APL Positions covered this week:
💊 Abortion legal and accessible in all states (learn more)
🏳⚧️ Protect transgender healthcare access (learn more)
🏳🌈 Marriage equality protected by stature (learn more)
☑ End felony disenfranchisement — vote after prison (learn more)
💰 Overturn Citizen’s United (learn more)
💉 Insulin capped at $35 (learn more)
💵 Carried interest taxed as ordinary income (learn more)
🏥 Universal health insurance coverage (0% uninsured) (learn more)
👉️ NEW: Discover all of our APL Positions here.
First, some wins!
Last night wasn’t just about who holds Congress. Voters weighed in directly on some really important ballot measures, state by state and city by city. Here are some wins from some of the ballot measures we highlighted last week!
Missouri rejected Amendment 3. The measure would have prohibited abortion and gender-transition care for minors, rolling back rights voters put in the constitution just two years ago. Healthcare ftw!
Montana passed the Montana Plan (I-194). This bans corporate “artificial persons” (for fuck’s sake) from political spending, which is a concrete step toward getting big money out of elections!
Virginia went 3 for 3. Voters enshrined the right to reproductive freedom in the state constitution, stripped a dormant same-sex marriage ban out of it entirely, and restored voting rights for people with past felony convictions. Let’s go!
Houston passed Proposition A. This deprioritizes low-level cannabis enforcement and bans no-knock warrants by the city’s police department. Hell yeah.
San Francisco (Prop E) and New York City (Props 2-4) both passed measures streamlining city contracting, permitting, and street-safety review. Not headline-grabbing, but it’s the kind of fix that makes local government actually function, which is sexy to me at least.
Use it or lose it
Now that we have some power, here are some bills that are within reach, if enough people push for them. Now’s the time.
Here’s what you can do:
Tell Congress to codify abortion rights with the Women’s Health Protection Act. Virginia and Nevada voters just did this at the state level. Let’s make it permanent, nationwide (go).
Tell Congress to pass the Carried Interest Fairness Act of 2025. Close the loophole that lets private equity managers pay a lower tax rate than the nurses and teachers who just helped flip the House (go).
Tell the Senate to extend the ACA Premium Tax Credits, a bipartisan 3-year extension that keeps health coverage affordable before these subsidies lapse (go).
Tell lawmakers to support the Affordable Insulin Now Act. Cap what people pay out of pocket for a drug that keeps them alive (go).
Don’t get comfortable
The same night eight states passed new voter ID or citizenship-voting restrictions, at least two more passed measures to segregate school sports by sex assigned at birth. A new majority doesn’t undo any of that on its own, but we finally have the leverage to fight it structurally instead of defensively.
Here’s what you can do:
Join RepresentUs in the fight to end corruption and fix democracy, across party lines, in every state (go).
Tell congress to pass House Joint Resolution 54, which gives rights to people, not corporations with a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United and get corporate money out of elections for good (go).
This election proved that ordinary, amazing people on the ballot can win (including friends of the pod like Junior Ezeonu, who helped flip Texas, Quinnie Perez, who is protecting soil and water in Florida, and Sophia Gibb, who’s standing up for democracy in Colorado). What about you? Run For Something (go).
That’s it for this week.
Thank you — as always — for giving a shit.
— Willow
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