Special Election 2025: How Do You Feel?

Now that the Nov. 4 special election is over, I want to get your feedback.

Summary of the results

• In Arizona’s 7th congressional U.S. House district, Democrat Adelita Grijalva won the special election to succeed her late father Raúl Grijalva.
• In Virginia’s 11th congressional U.S. House district, Democrat James Walkinshaw won decisively (75 % to 25 %) to replace retiring Democrat Gerry Connolly.
• In Florida’s 1st congressional U.S. House district, Republican Jimmy Patronis won the special election following the resignation of Matt Gaetz. While the GOP held the seat, Democrats made substantial gains in margin.
• On the Georgia Public Service Commission, Democrats flipped two seats, a notable shift in what has historically been Republican-dominated.
• Proposition 50 asked California voters whether to replace the state’s independent redistricting commission-drawn congressional maps with maps drawn by the legislature (to be used starting 2026) until after the 2030 census. It was approved by California voters. The measure is projected to help Democrats potentially flip up to five U.S. House seats in California.
• Self-described Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani won the 2025 New York City mayoral election, defeating former governor Andrew Cuomo (who ran as an independent) and Republican Curtis Sliwa. He will become the city’s mayor beginning January 1, 2026. Mamdani is the first Muslim mayor of the city, the first South Asian to hold the post, and one of the youngest mayors in recent city history.

Concerns for Republicans

An aggregate of news sources list the following as possible concerns:

• With the passage of Prop 50 in California, GOP strategists now see a structural threat to their House majority.
• Forecasting models suggest that Republicans risk losing about 28 seats in the House in 2026.
• The special election results signal voter discontent with the GOP’s messaging or coalition in certain key demographics, like younger or independent voters.

Concerns for Democrats

• Brand weakness: Despite winning several high-profile races, the party’s overall public image remains fragile: more than two-thirds of Americans say Democrats are out of touch.
• Internal ideological tensions: The party is still grappling with tensions between its moderate and progressive wings. The wins included both a progressive insurgent, Zohran Mamdani in NYC, and moderate safe-bets in Virginia and New Jersey. The diversity can be a strength, but poses a risk of mixed messaging heading into the midterms: what unites the party may be the opposition to certain GOP moves, but not necessarily a coherent vision.
• Midterm vulnerability: Even as Democrats picked up favorable results, these elections were largely in places already leaning Democratic. Analysts say that broader swing-district contests, especially at the national level in 2026, will be a lot more challenging.
• Policy and governance: Voters focused heavily on cost-of-living, housing affordability, public safety and education rather than solely ideological divides. Democrats will need to deliver concrete results or risk a backlash.

My take

I think the Republican leadership promised Americans the moon, but has not only not delivered, but is actively working against those who voted for them, so I’m not surprised at the losses.

Republicans pitched the President’s massive tax-cut bill as helping working families, but more Americans now realize the wealthy are the primary beneficiaries.

People who rely on Medicaid are seeing the GOP-controlled government push for deep cuts and new work requirements.

Rather than see prices go down, voters are seeing high grocery prices and the possible deletion of their health care coverage.

For my part, I’m most sorry about Prop 50. By pushing Texas to redistrict in an attempt to gain more House seats in the 2026 election, and California’s counter-response, the President canceled out the votes of thousands of Democrats in Texas and as many Republicans in California.

As for Democrats, they need a much stronger message beyond that of “oppose Trump.”

In turn, Republicans need to stop blaming the Democrats and work with them to reopen the government and work on the issues Americans care about: cost-of-living, health care and jobs.

Lastly, Americans need to work with Common Ground organizations like Braver Angels and it’s new Citizen-Led Solutions program to organize around common ground issues at the local, state and national level.

The last strikes me as the most important, because it’s clear our government is no longer working for us. Rather than wait for any particular candidate or political party to save us, we need to speak with one voice about what we want, and then see that our elected officials make it happen.

What’s your take?

Are you happy about the results, have mixed feelings, or scared?

What’s your next step in getting our elected officials to do their jobs?

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Definition of Common Ground Movement: placing your loyalty with other Americans, rather than any political party, and embracing the fact we have more in common than not.

Gerrymandering: Where All Americans Lose

I live in California, so my state’s fight with Texas’ mid-census redrawing of voting districts, known as gerrymandering, in order to gain more seats in the U.S. House of Representatives is an issue that’s only growing bigger.

I didn’t really learn about the practice until I read a Harper’s Magazine article in the early 2000s. I remember wondering how gerrymandering could be legal. The system sounded like an absolute usurping of citizen representation.

I assume most of us agree that the voting district boundaries where we live should reflect already-established geographical locations, such as counties, towns or rural areas. If those places have more voters of one political party over another, that fact should be expressed in the number of U.S. House seats allotted. Over time, if the area naturally shifts politically, then the representation should, as well.

After my research for this post, my attitude has not changed: redrawing of voting district boundaries to keep one political party in power over another seems is an outright cheat..

History

The term “gerrymander” comes from 1812 Massachusetts, when Governor Elbridge Gerry signed a redistricting bill that created an oddly shaped district to benefit his Democratic-Republican Party. A cartoonist said the district looked like a salamander, hence “Gerry-mander.”

Proponents claimed gerrymandering was a constitutionally legal, efficient, and practical tool for the ruling party to protect its agenda and reflect the state’s majority politics.

Opponents immediately saw it as manipulation. They said it undermined fair representation and allowed politicians to “choose their voters” instead of the other way around.

Actual Alternatives

There are four modern methods of redrawing districts that:

• reflect actual political representation
• respect logical/geographic borders
• protect against partisan abuse

Independent Redistricting Commissions

These commissions are created by nonpartisan citizen panels rather than by state legislatures. In varying forms, they’re used in California, Arizona, Colorado, and Michigan. The strengths are that such commissions remove the direct self-interest of lawmakers, increase transparency and often include public hearings.

Unfortunately, they’re still subject to political pressure in how members are appointed, and commissions can deadlock.

Criteria + Algorithmic Maps

Maps are drawn by computer programs that following strict rules, such as:

• equal population
• compact districts rather than oddly shaped
• districts that are whole, rather than not split apart
• respect for existing political/geographic boundaries
• compliance with the Voting Rights Act, which protects protecting minority representation

An advantage is that a variety of maps can be created and then an independent body can choose the one that’s most balanced.

This presents a transparent system that’s fast, scalable and reduces bias. The trick is that the criteria, such as “compactness” vs. “partisan fairness,” can be politicized.

Proportional Representation (PR) Systems

This system means that a state awards seats based on vote share. If a party wins 40% of votes statewide, it gets about 40% of seats. That eliminates gerrymandering and gives representation to minority parties in every state.

But — it’s a big but — the system would require changing federal law, and possibly the Constitution, since wording now states that there can be only one House member per district.

Hybrid Models

Some reformers suggest keeping single-member districts, but making them follow strict geographic borders, like those of counties. Or we could use algorithms to test maps for partisan bias, which is known as an “efficiency gap” or “mean-median test,” and reject the biased ones. A last idea is to involve public map submissions and have transparent debates.

But Alas, Politicians Love Our Current System…

…because the current system allows for legal abuse.

It’s bad enough that over time, Republican and Democratic lawmakers have passed laws that purposely whittled down the number of political parties to only two, and that most Americans are unhappy with.

The Current Situation

President Trump’s request that Republican-dominated states redraw their districts to ensure tht Republicans keep control of the House has triggered a redistricting war where all Americans lose.

Let’s look at California where I live.

As a voter, I want Congressional districts to be as fair as possible. If a person moves to a district where a certain political party dominates, that person should be assured their vote will be represented.

I’m also a huge believer in deliberative democracy and am proud that my state has a California Citizens Redistricting Commission the includes 5 Democrats, 5 Republicans and 4 unaffiliated or other party members. They’re selected through a multi-step process involving a state auditor, legislative strikes, and random draws to keep the group independent.

Lastly, I feel democracy depends on at least two parties having an equal chance to gain voter trust.

So the situation is thus: the president’s move pits my love for democracy against my appreciation for CCRC and the fairness it represents. If I don’t want to have one party dominate in America, which would be like China, North Korea and Vietnam, then I have to choose against a fair and democratically-created system. And the last is what’s led to Governor Gavin Newsom’s Prop 50, which would set aside the CCRC for three years in order to redistrict the state to keep Republicans from a significant advantage.

I hate the thought that Republicans in current Republican-dominated districts are faced with having their votes forfeited. But I hate the idea of a one-party America even more.

My question for you

How do you think we Americans can get Congress to outlaw gerrymandering and institute more fair systems for redistricting?

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Join the Common Ground Movement!

If you’ve found this post helpful, please subscribe below and share with others. Please also join the Vigilant Positivity Facebook page and YouTube channel.

Definition of Common Ground Movement: placing your loyalty with other Americans, rather than any political party, and embracing the fact we have more in common than not.