Women’s Issues Just Won the Election

Mikie Sherrill and Mary Sheffield celebrate their election-night victories in New Jersey and Detroit. — (Image credit: Getty Images)

If politics is about who gets to decide what matters, last night proved that women already have the answer.

Across the map, voters backed candidates who have consistently supported women’s rights, reproductive freedom, and policies that make everyday life more affordable. But it was young women, especially, who showed up and moved the needle. NBC Exit polls showed that 84 percent of women under 30 voted for Zohran Mamdani in New York City, 81 percent for Mikie Sherrill in New Jersey, and 82 percent for Abigail Spanberger in Virginia.

The backdrop is impossible to ignore. Tuesday’s off-year elections, including governor’s races in Virginia and New Jersey, the mayoral race in New York City, and other local and state races, served as an early barometer of the national mood under a second term of the Trump administration. Since returning to office, the administration has moved quickly to scale back federal protections for abortion and contraception, revoke guidance requiring hospitals to provide emergency abortion care, and dismantle gender-equity initiatives across federal agencies.

Call it a response or a reckoning, but last night, women across the country drew a line.

Supporters cheer during election night in Richmond, Virginia. — Supporters celebrate as results come in for Virginia’s gubernatorial race, where Abigail Spanberger made history as the state’s first woman governor.

In Virginia, Abigail Spanberger made history as the state’s first woman governor, defeating an opponent who backed a 15-week abortion ban. Her campaign framed reproductive rights alongside cost-of-living and access issues, pledging to pursue a constitutional amendment protecting abortion and contraception.

“When the Dobbs decision was made, it became clear that state after state would move to restrict abortion access, as my opponent has previously supported,” Spanberger said during an October debate. “In states where they further restricted abortion access, women have died—women pregnant with very wanted children, women with ectopic pregnancies who were sent home.

Despite the chaos, we can do better.

Mikie Sherrill brought that same urgency north to New Jersey. Sherrill, a former Navy pilot, inherits a state already seen as a safe haven for abortion access, but argues that rights alone don’t amount to equality unless they’re paired with affordable childcare, paid leave, and fair wages.

“I have three teenagers and a 20-year-old, and I worry about the world we’re leaving them and whether they can all move back to New Jersey,” she said in her debate opposite Republican candidate Jack Ciattarelli. “Our mission is to drive down costs for families, keep people safe and healthy, and make sure every child has a shot. Despite the chaos, we can do better.”

A candidate takes a selfie with supporters at an election-night event in New Jersey. — Mikie Sherrill poses with supporters in East Brunswick after winning New Jersey’s governor’s race.

New York City had its own kind of breakthrough led by Zohran Mamdani, the city’s first Muslim and South Asian mayor. The 34-year-old campaigned on free public transit, higher wages, and universal childcare, policies that speak directly to the burdens working women carry in one of the world’s most expensive cities.

“In this moment of political darkness, New York will be the light,” he said in his victory speech Tuesday. “Here, we believe in standing up for those we love—whether you are an immigrant, a member of the trans community, one of the many Black women that Donald Trump has fired from a federal job, a single mom still waiting for the cost of groceries to go down, or anyone else with their back against the wall. Your struggle is ours, too.”

Ghazala Hashmi speaks to supporters during an election-night event in Richmond, Virginia. — Ghazala Hashmi, Virginia’s newly elected lieutenant governor, addresses supporters after becoming the first Muslim woman to win statewide office in the U.S.

Two more firsts rounded out the night. In Detroit, Mary Sheffield became the city’s first woman mayor. Her agenda on housing and infrastructure finally brings the work Detroit’s women have done for decades to the center of City Hall. And in Virginia, Ghazala Hashmi became the nation’s first Muslim woman elected to statewide office, stepping into the lieutenant governor’s seat she once dreamed of after first being inspired to run by Trump’s Muslim ban.

Together, their victories made one thing clear: the era of women asking for power is over. Now, they’re simply taking it.

Noor Ibrahim is the deputy editor at Marie Claire, where she commissions, edits, and writes features across politics, career, and money in all their modern forms. She’s always on the hunt for bold, unexpected stories about the power structures that shape women’s lives—and the audacious ways they push back. Previously, Noor was the managing editor at The Daily Beast, where she helped steer the newsroom’s signature mix of scoops, features, and breaking news. Her reporting has appeared in The Guardian, TIME, and Foreign Policy, among other outlets. She holds a master’s degree from Columbia Journalism School.