November 5 Blog: Post Election Reflection

Dear Friends:

What a great day Tuesday was for Democracy! It indeed feels like the tide is starting to turn; that common sense and decency are returning to our politics.

We can’t delude ourselves that the next several years will not be difficult and have many ugly moments. Autocracies are usually vicious but especially so when they see power slipping away.  But, for the moment, let’s savor our many victories. I’ve asked Austin Locke, who runs this webpage to write the rest of this blog. I think you’ll enjoy it.   Libby

Having worked on 18 campaigns across the country, I can say with confidence: I haven’t seen a Democratic performance this strong since 2008. What we witnessed last night wasn’t luck; it was a movement.

We stood up, said enough, and changed Virginia (and America) for the better. From California to our Commonwealth, from Georgia to New York City, voters delivered a message loud and clear: they’ve had enough of chaos, cruelty, and incompetence.

This didn’t happen by accident. Yes, Donald Trump’s toxic brand of politics has accelerated our national exhaustion, but landslide victories don’t appear out of thin air. They’re built one phone call, one door knock, one conversation at a time.

Another critical factor: Democrats ran candidates who truly reflected their communities. Across the country, we invested in leaders who mirror the people they represent and voters rewarded that authenticity.

In the days leading up to the election, Election Twitter (Yes, Twitter is trash) tracked 18 key metrics to gauge the strength of a Democratic wave. Democrats didn’t just meet expectations, we hit every single one. From local races to national battlegrounds, people showed up in force to defend democracy, decency, and progress.

Here in Virginia, talking heads were spinning. Abigail not only won, but won big. As the results stand right now, she is currently up by an astonishing 15 points, Hashmi is up 11, and Jones is up 5. Every single city and county in the Commonwealth shifted leftward. Falls Church City exceeded its 2024 Election Day turnout.

In the House of Delegates, we expanded our majority from 51 seats to an astonishing 64! We traded out terrible legislators like Paul Milde with amazing people like Stacey Carroll.

Democrats won FIVE districts that Trump won. In HD-66, we witnessed a monumental shift.  Nicole Cole’s district not only voted for Trump in 2024, but also voted for Youngkin in 2021 by 12.5 points. The incumbent and Dean of the House of Delegates, Bobby Orrock, represented the area for over 30 years. In 2023, Orrock ran unopposed. But in 2025, we fixed that. Compared to 2021, we saw a 17-point swing towards Democrats.

In fact, Republicans lost all the gains they made with young people and communities of color. Down in Blacksburg, young voters helped flip HD-41 and propelled Lily Franklin to Victory. In Manassas Park, we saw a 22-point swing from 2024 (59-39) to 2025 (71-29).

Special shout out to Chaz Nuttycomb and State Navigate for not only being the most accurate pollster, but also for providing an amazing election night dashboard. His post-election analysis video can be found here.

But the question is: How were Democrats able to achieve such success? The answer is simple: Democrats had great candidates and a mobilized electorate.

Whether it was participating in No Kings Day, canvassing, making calls, sending postcards, making sure your friends and family had a plan to vote, and even the little actions like having a yard sign, everything we did moved the needle.

In Arlington alone, Democrats knocked on tens of thousands of doors, handed out 60,000 Sample Ballots, hand-delivered 65,000 messengers, sent 75,000 text messages, had poll greeters at all 54 precincts, and exceeded all of the metrics we outlined. They expected Abigail to get between 75-80% of the vote, she got 83%.

And we need to remember what this feels like. Victories like this don’t come easy. They require hard work, organization, and follow-through. To maintain them, they require legislative success.

Democrats will soon welcome 13 new colleagues in the House of Delegates. Now, it’s on us to keep the momentum going to help them pass the kind of legislation that improves lives, strengthens our communities, and honors the trust Virginians have placed in us.

We are not done. We need to continue the momentum into 2026 to ensure that we can take back control of both houses of Congress. Americans asked for change. Now, we can’t let them down.

Yours in Solidarity,

Austin Locke

AYD President-Elect | Co-Chair Arlington Democrats Joint Campaign | Founder, Good People of Arlington