Here is a sample of what’s going on around the country. Please be kind to yourself and use your discretion while reading this section. You can share news from your state with [email protected] for possible inclusion in a future newsletter. California - Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi will not seek re-election in 2026. The Speaker Emerita announced on November 6th that she would not seek re-election next year, having served San Francisco in the House of Representatives for 38 years. Pelosi is the first and only woman to serve as Speaker of the House. When she was first elected to the House in 1987, she used her inaugural floor speech to commit to fighting the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Voters approve Proposition 50. The ballot proposition allows the state’s congressional districts to be redrawn before the 2026 midterm elections. Colorado - Douglas County voters elect new school board members. Four new members were elected to the Douglas County school board, all backed by local progressive organizations. The defeated candidates ran on a platform of “parental rights” and anti-trans athlete ban policies. Maine - Mainers reject ballot question aiming to change voting laws. Question 1, if adopted, would have changed election procedures, including by requiring a photo ID to vote and restricting voting by mail. Question 1 failed, with approximately 60% of voters voting “no.” Augusta voters reject candidate who campaigned on rolling back trans-inclusive school policies. The Augusta School District rejected at least one candidate who ran on repealing the district’s trans inclusive policies. Voters elected all three candidates for school board supported by the Democratic Party. Maryland - State Board of Education reverses Harford County book ban. The Harford County school board voted to ban “Flamer” by Mike Curanto from school libraries in June. The State Board of Education voted to reverse that decision, and recommended that Harford County revise its process for evaluating books. New Jersey - Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill elected Governor of New Jersey. Governor-elect Sherrill will be the first woman from the Democratic Party to serve as governor. New York - Zohran Mamdani elected mayor of New York City. Mamdani is the first Muslim mayor of New York, the first Indian-American mayor of New York, as well as the youngest mayor of New York since 1892. North Carolina - Charlotte-Mecklenburg School district voters elect new school board members. Four of the school district's nine board seats will be held by new members. Ohio - Akron voters elect three new school board members. The new members of the school board were endorsed by the Akron Education Association and were backed by local Democratic Party organizations. Pennsylvania - Bucks County voters elect school board members. Members of Bucks County’s 13 school boards were elected on November 4th. Democratic Party backed candidates won a majority of seats on most school boards. Tennessee - Sumner County Library Board votes against ban on books about transgender people. The proposed policy would ban books in Sumner County libraries "subjecting, introducing, condoning or encouraging a minor to identify with, or live as, a purported identity inconsistent with his or her biological sex at birth." The policy failed on a 4-4 vote on October 30th, representing the fourth time this policy was put before the board and failed. Texas - School districts use AI in attempt to comply with law banning “profane” and “indecent” content. SB 13, which went into effect this year, requires school staff to ensure compliance with a ban on school library materials with “profane” or “indecent” content. Some school districts are turning to ChatGPT to help with compliance, but ChatGPT’s methods for determining which books violate the law are unclear, and in some instances the books ChatGPT flags for inappropriate content do not actually contain that content. Three new members elected to Cy-Fair School Board. The Houston-area school board had previously been controlled by a conservative majority which had aggressively banned books from school libraries. Three members of that conservative majority, including the president and vice president of the school board, lost re-election. Virginia - Abigail Spanberger elected Governor. Spanberger, a former congresswoman, was elected Virginia’s first woman governor. In the same election, Virginians also elected Jay Jones as the commonwealth’s first Black attorney general, and Ghazala Hashmi was elected Lieutenant Governor. Hashmi is the first Muslim woman elected to statewide office in the U.S. Virginia Voters reject anti-trans campaigns. Campaign ads for Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears, who was running for Governor, heavily featured anti-trans themes, including one ad which claimed that Virginia would face “predators in little girl’s locker rooms” if Abigail Spanberger was elected. Earle-Sears went on to lose the election to Abigail Spanberger by a wide margin. Washington - Trans youth awarded settlement from school district following assault. Ian Ring faced bullying and anti-trans insults at his middle school before being violently assaulted. Ring and his family sued the school district, alleging that the school new Ring was being bullied for being trans and did not provide a safe environment. The district is paying a settlement to Ring and his family. | 
