Some of the Democrats’ biggest victories were in Southern states like Texas and South Carolina that had long been seen as permanent Republican territory. Other states under decades-long GOP rule now have Democratic senators and legislatures and governors. For our December print issue, John Nichols talked to former vice president Kamala Harris about her experiences campaigning in the South this cycle.

These massive victories are in no small part thanks to voters’ desire to have their elected officials actually share their values. Elie Mystal wrote about how the centrist narrative that you need to abandon the vulnerable to win was proved wrong, and that voters want elected officials who are principled in support of trans people and immigrants. And Hamid Bendaas writes that unabashed support for Israel is now a major liability for Democratic politicians, and they would do well to remember that their voters don’t want their tax dollars funding a genocide.

All over the country, Amy Littlefield reports, abortion was on the ballot. Abortion rights initiatives won almost everywhere, pro-choice champions unseated anti-abortion incumbents, and the future looks optimistic even in places where abortion measures didn’t pass. And record numbers of women were elected to office, Michele Goodwin writes, on a mandate “not only to rebuild what was lost but to lay the groundwork for a third Reconstruction.” Let’s get to work—and investigate the bad guys too.

-Tisya Mavuram

Engagement Editor, The Nation