Show notes
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"We can respond to oligarchy and authoritarianism with the strength it fears, not the appeasement it craves."
– Zohran Mamdani
Welcome to the Gaslit Nation Election Super Special – a block party celebrating the proud American tradition of punching Nazis. Election Day 2025 will go down in history as D-Day for democracy. Terrell Starr joins Andrea to break down what these nationwide victories mean for the future, from the midterms and beyond.
It's clear who Americans blame for the government shutdown. The blue tsunami showed up and reshaped the map, literally. In Virginia, Abigail Spanberger made history as the state's first woman governor as Democrats swept the governorship, lieutenant governorship, and attorney general, with nearly every county shifting blue. In New Jersey, Mikie Sherrill became the first Democratic woman to lead the state, with Democrats gaining seats across the legislature.
Our people-powered victories weren't a "blue bubble" story as Donald Trump wants you to believe. Democrats flipped two seats in Mississippi, two statewide offices in Georgia, won the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, and wiped GOP control off the Bucks County school board. Colorado voted to feed kids, Charlotte funded transit, Maine rejected voter suppression, progressive D.A.s Larry Krasner in Philadelphia and Alvin Bragg in Manhattan won re-election, and California overwhelmingly voted for redistricting self-defense against GOP autocracy. More on the redistricting battle in future episodes.
And in New York City, Zohran Mamdani, just 34, the city's first Muslim mayor and the youngest since 1982, the first candidate to get over 1 million votes since 1969, delivered a victory speech so electric it could light up Times Square, reminding us that unity and humanity are the real antidotes to greed and fear. The fascists forced a fight, and democracy punched back.
This is only the beginning. Thank you to every Gaslit Nation listener who voted, who showed up for your community, for our shared livable future that we will build together, and who kept hope alive on our darkest days. We will overcome with our moral force and defiance.
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Show Notes:
Zohran Mamdani announces all-female transition team as he prepares for New York mayoralty: Team includes Lina Khan, the FTC commissioner under Biden, and other Democratic former city officials https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/nov/05/zohran-mamdani-transition-team
From Michael Moore's 2018 Trump-era epic, Fahrenheit 11/9. In this scene, President Obama comes to Flint amidst the poisoned water crisis. His appearance left the residents of Flint stunned. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvlcI2TmfdI
Nearly all Virginia counties shift blue as Democrats win big across commonwealth: Democrats won Virginia's top three offices and expanded their majority in the House of Delegates. https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/politics/elections/virginia-democrats-republicans-elections-balance-of-power/65-2dd07df2-7f70-4a03-b965-f22f39292c9b
Election 2025: A Blue Wave in Bucks County as Democrats Sweep Row Offices, Dominate Races Across the County (LIVE Results) https://buckscountybeacon.com/2025/11/election-2025-bucks-county-and-statewide-pennsylvania-live-results/
The Candidates Who Made History In The 2025 Elections From New York City to Detroit, five candidates broke the glass ceiling. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/historic-firsts-2025-elections_n_690b3976e4b09953a605f0ed?origin=home-zone-b-unit
Clip: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DQjxCjZAK1k/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Clip: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DQqgszTDD6k/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Clip: https://bsky.app/profile/kendrawrites.com/post/3m4uzjgs6tk2m
'Absolute terror': Day care teacher detained by ICE agents on Chicago's North Side https://wgntv.com/news/chicago-news/video-daycare-teacher-detained-by-ice-agents-on-chicagos-north-side/
Voters Soundly Reject Trump's Plot to Rig the Next Election On Tuesday, Democrats passed new congressional maps, defeated GOP attempts to make it harder to vote, and protected pro-democracy judges. https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/11/election-trump-newsom-california-redistricting-gerrymandering-pennsylvania-judges-maine-voter-id/
Beshear: Let me be clear. The president has both the funding and the authority to fund snap during a shutdown. In fact, every other president in every other shutdown has done so. People going hungry in this instance is a choice that this president has made. https://bsky.app/profile/acyn.bsky.social/post/3m4vioc3kvg2f
How Zohran Mamdani Beat Back New York's Elite and Was Elected Mayor The 34-year-old assemblyman won the Democratic primary by defying the city's all-powerful establishment. He secured the mayoralty by delicately disarming it https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/04/nyregion/how-zohran-mamdani-won-nyc-mayor.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
Mamdani Did All the Things the Establishment Hates. He Won Anyway. There's a growing appetite for something new and innovative growing among the electorate—and an opportunity for Democrats to grow that electorate, as well. https://newrepublic.com/article/197247/mamdani-versus-establishment-democrats-cuomo
A Little-Noted Element Propelled Mamdani's Rise: Gen Z Loneliness Members of Gen Z found something unexpected in the mayoral race: a chance to hang out. Their enthusiasm turned into real votes. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/04/nyregion/mamdani-young-voters.html?unlocked_article_code=1.y08.95dX.Kxm_9AhFCK5b&smid=url-share
The Billionaires Who Failed to Stop Zohran Mamdani, and How Much They Spent https://time.com/7331119/zohran-mamdani-billionaires-ackman-bloomberg/
Va. House pushes through last-minute redistricting amendment as GOP cries foul The 51-42 vote follows fiery debate over whether the General Assembly should re-draw congressional lines mid-decade to counter actions in other states. https://virginiamercury.com/2025/10/29/va-house-pushes-through-last-minute-redistricting-amendment-as-gop-cries-foul/
Daniel Nichanian. Editor in chief of @boltsmag.org provide an election results overview: https://bsky.app/profile/taniel.bsky.social/post/3m4uhevs76k2n
FULL SPEECH: Zohran Mamdani's victory speech following historic NYC mayoral win https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOQT_4A1eb8
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