The scope of the win for the environment last night can’t be overemphasized. It wasn’t just that the Democrats took back control of the House and the Senate by margins that will preclude Democratic traitors like Senator John Fetterman or House member Glusenkamp Perez of Washington State. They can vote with the Republicans all they want and it won’t matter. No close calls.
But this election means much more. With more state legislatures now in control of Democrats the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact being approved is a very real possibility. According to Axios this morning: Democrats have won control of the governorship and both legislative chambers in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Arizona, Wisconsin and Nevada, enough to push an agreement called the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact beyond the 270-vote threshold required to take effect. (if the supporters can actually get the legislators to take action, which has not always been assured).
The compact has been enacted by 18 states and Washington, D.C. since launching in 2006, representing 222 electoral votes so far. (https://www.axios.com/2026/11/04/democrats-electoral-college-popular-vote-2028).
This is could help Democrats solidify future Presidential elections without the need to change the constitution to eliminate the Electoral College.
In Texas, with the changeover of everyone (it seems) from the Govenor, Attorney General, State House & Senate,Agriculture Commissioner, Lieutenant Governor, Commissioner of the General Land Office, along with four seats in the State Supreme Court a new era is dawning. This is nothing short of a landslide of epic proportions. It will mean a very different POV on environmental regulations and A.I. datacenter siting permits.
Wins in the deep South along the Atlantic seaboard are epic shifts as well. Perhaps the famous “Southern Strategy” of Richard Nixon in 1968 that swung the South to the Republicans for a generation is finally falling away. Columnist Charles Blow moved to Atlanta a few years ago and called on fellow African Americans to follow him South to help take back the South. It appears that that may have happened. We’ve seen the vote of African Americans matter more and more in the last few elections but this looks like a decisive swing their way. With this new leadership in both the Governorship and Senate, along with North and South Carolina we can expect more environmental laws being written or upheld. Help for those still hurting from Hurricanes Chantal and Helene will likely be coming as Democrat Roy Cooper won in North Carolina, ousting the Republican “Hurricane Czar” and Democrat Jamie Ager won in hard hit Asheville. Ager is an environmental scientist.
Alaska’s new Govenor Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins and new Democratic Senator Mary Petola will likely stave off oil and gas expansion in the upper part of the state as well as mining operations into the Bristol Bay region with Pebble Mine.
The issue of environmental pollution and high cancer rates, along with an end to international aid and the tariffs hurting the farm community in Iowa pushed voters to flip several seats in Tuesday’s election, voting in Democratic candidates for governor, US Senate and in three of the state’s four Congressional districts according to Iowa station KCCI .
A much longer review of the overall possible positive moves we could see is on the web site, Legal Planet. They point out the possibility of stopping funding cuts by Trump, the use of regulatory vetoes in Congress, investigations by Congress, slowing or stopping judicial appointments, all could be used by Democrats to slow Trumps’ relentless attacks on the environment.
The House Science committee will return to Democratic Control, which will be a counter to the destructive work of the Office of Management and Budget’s Russell Vought, perhaps the most important man behind Trump’s throne. According to EOS the Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., will be under greater scrutiny for their actions.
Also according to EOS, in Michigan’s 7th District William Lawrence (D) challenged incumbent Rep. Thomas Barrett (R) and is projected to win (with more than 95% of votes counted as of publication). Lawrence is an environmental activist and a cofounder of the Sunrise Movement, a youth-driven climate action organization. He ran on a platform to protect Michigan’s natural areas from data center encroachment, to restore wetlands and rivers, and to hold polluters accountable.
A much more comprehensive national list of smaller ballot issues on the environment can be found on EOS here:https://eos.org/research-and-developments/how-science-and-the-environment-fared-in-the-2026-u-s-midterms
Democrats here in Washington and locally kept or strengthened their hold on government. The independent candidate for the State House Seat, Marcia Kelbon lost to new politician Kaylee Kuehn and Representative Adam Bernbaum was returned to office. No surprises as the County is solidly Democrat at this stage, and Mrs. Kelbon had to overcome her Republican past though her positions were quite moderately centrist. She was swimming upstream against a very strong current. The continued hold on the State Supreme Court by candidates who were endorsed by the Democratic party ensures no nasty surprises in environmental cases brought before them. Representative Emily Randall coasted to victory due to no serious challenger despite her being a no-show for the key vote to save PBS and foreign aide. Maybe she can atone for past sins by introducing bills to reinstate what she helped kill.
Perhaps we will see a return of wind energy projects, more mass transit project money and rebates for electric autos and e-bikes again. I’d like to see bike lanes put back into the Transportation budget. I’m sure I’ve missed some things, let me know if I did in the comments section below.
All this points to at least a blockade of Trump’s next radical anti-environmental steps and some healing of the ones he already has placed on the country. Whether the Democrats capitalize on this opportunity or squander it as they often have done in the past, only time will tell.
Filed under: Environmental Law, Environmental Protection, Government, Politics | Tagged: elections |
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