We Vote at Dawn!
  November 3, 2025 Greetings, Meteor readers, We’re coming to you on a Monday this week because we’ll be out of the office tomorrow so that everyone has time to get their vote on.  In today’s newsletter, we’re talking about the unsuckification of the country. Plus, a record-breaking day at the New York City Marathon. xoxo, The Meteor team  WHAT’S GOING ONOff to the races: It’s the first general election since Trump began his second term in office, and, to put it in the most technical terms available, shit is rough out here. The government shutdown trudges on (although our representatives are apparently capable of finding time to do this), Head Start centers are turning children away, food pantries are struggling—it all sucks. But in the sage words all therapists have been uttering since the dawn of therapy: you’ve got to take it one day at a time. And tomorrow is a great day to take a step toward the unsuckification of the nation. First of all, the gubernatorial races in New Jersey and Virginia will be a strong signifier of what we can expect for the midterm elections. In Jersey, Democrat Mikie Sherrill is hoping to keep the state blue while pledging to safeguard New Jersey’s existing abortion protections, something her opponent Jack Ciattarelli has sworn to undo if elected. Meanwhile in Virginia, the economy and a housing affordability crisis are top of mind for voters choosing between Democrat Abigail Spanberger and Republican Lt. Governor Winsome Earl-Sears. Virginia is also the only state in the South not to have a post-Roe abortion ban, and Spanberger wants to keep it that way. (Earl-Sears has, per The Guardian, compared abortion to genocide.) The Diamond of the Season (the race everyone is talking about) is the mayoral race in New York between Zohran Mamdani and Andrew Cuomo. (We’re told Curtis Sliwa is also hanging around.) Putting the New York of it all to the side, this race is particularly symbolic. Will the people choose the status quo—a known sex pest and establishment politico—or take a chance on a newcomer who could represent a bold new era for the Democratic Party nationwide? While most of the coverage of this race has focused on Mamdani’s role as the possible first Muslim mayor of New York—and the Islamophobia aimed at his candidacy—don’t sleep on the significance of his embrace of universal child care (an idea that sounds radical but shouldn’t be). If he prevails, as he’s favored to, politicians may finally see it as a winning issue. Perhaps less glamorous but equally vital are the elections in California and Pennsylvania. The Golden State is voting on Prop 50, which would allow for new congressional maps to be drawn up and used through 2030. Think of it as reverse gerrymandering or, as we’re calling it, mandergerrying: First Texas jumped into some unusual mid-decade redistricting, reducing the impact of Black and brown voters; now, in response, California Dems are hoping to mandergerry their map to maximize their presence in Congress. And back in Pennsylvania, there are three state supreme court seats on the ballot—if the Democrats currently holding them are ousted, it could have huge implications for voting rights, abortion rights and more in a currently moderate state. So, yeah, there’s a lot on the line tomorrow—including local elections, which matter more than ever. Will those new school board members fight book bans, or cave? Will your city council hand surveillance info to ICE? The answer, in part, is up to you. Go do your thing—and we’ll see you on the other side. AND:
 OBIRI’S RECORD-BREAKING FINISH. (VIA GETTY IMAGES)
  FOLLOW THE METEOR     Thank you for reading The Meteor! Got this from a friend? |
