2025 Election Recap: Big Wins for Democrats and Transit
The elections on November 4, resulting in a near sweep for Democrats up and down the ballot, highlight a dramatic shift in voter opinion and trends from last year’s presidential election. Moreover, transit ballot measures were proposed across the country, with the vast majority winning.
Winning Candidates' Views on Transportation
Mayor-Elect of New York City, Zohran Mamdani, ran his campaign with a relentless focus on making the city more affordable. A crux of his platform was to make buses fast and free. As Mayor, Mamdani plans to eliminate fares on all buses throughout the city and improve their efficiency by “rapidly building priority lanes, expanding bus queue jump signals, and [creating] dedicated loading zones to keep double parkers out of the way”. The campaign argues this policy will save NYC riders 32 million hours every year and generate $1.5 billion in savings.
Nearby, Mikie Sherrill, Governor-Elect of New Jersey, plans to address congestion by investing in mass transit while continuing improvements to roads and rails. During her time in Congress, Sherrill has been a supporter of the Gateway Project, which builds more train tunnels under the Hudson river from New Jersey into New York City. She also believes NJ Transit must have a “customer-focused mindset”, improving their communication with riders.
Transit Ballot Measures
Transit ballot measures were met with success in this year's elections. Out of 16 ballot measures across North Carolina, Michigan, New Mexico, Colorado, and Washington, 13 passed – an 81% success rate. These wins deliver $11 billion to public transit for improvements, expansions, operations, and infrastructure investments. Further than funding, in Colorado, voters approved the creation of a Regional Transit Authority.
Federal Perspective
Democrats’ winning message was centered around affordability and the economy – issues President Trump won on just a year earlier. This election also put into question Republican’s growing coalition that led President Trump to victory in 2024, including increased support from voters of color. Key counties with high Latino populations showed a reversal of this winning coalition for the GOP. Over the past decade, a clear pattern has emerged - Republicans seem to do worse in elections without Trump on the top of the ticket, posing questions for the party going forward.
Republicans, fearing losses to their Congressional majority come 2027, will likely spend the next year in Congress pushing through as much of their agenda as possible while they still have their governing trifecta. At the same time, they may be reevaluating the popularity of their signature policies on the economy, healthcare, and more.