The 2026 Midterms: Races and Ballot Measures Ms. Editors Are Watching

PUBLISHED 11/3/2026 by and | UPDATED 11/3/2026 at 1:15 P.M. PT

Happy Election Day!

Ms. editors and contributors are paying particular attention to the races and ballot measures with the greatest implications for women, feminism and democracy.

This election results guide began as the running list Ms. editors have been circulating among ourselves: the Senate races we’re watching closely, the gubernatorial contests that could change the direction of state policy, and the state Supreme Court elections and ballot measures that might otherwise get lost in the national headlines.

Bookmark this page and check back throughout election night and the days ahead. We’ll update it as races are called, plus add feminist analysis on what they mean for the issues Ms. has covered for more than 50 years.

Rest in Power, Marcia Ann Gillespie: The Trailblazing Editor Who Transformed Women’s Media

PUBLISHED 11/3/2026 by

Marcia Ann Gillespie, an innovator and pathbreaker in media who lifted up the voices of Black women in a field dominated by men, died on Saturday, Oct. 31. She was 82.

Heralded for breaking barriers in journalism, she was an inspiring writer, revered editor and thought leader. She came of age in media leadership in the wake of the horrific assassinations of Robert F. Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., amid the lingering Vietnam War. It was an era defined by the rise of Black power and Black love movements, but also by the killings of student protesters at Kent State University.

Gillespie was born on July 10, 1944, in Rockville Centre, N.Y., to entrepreneurial, hardworking parents. After graduating from Lake Forest College in Illinois, she returned to New York to work at Time-Life Books, which was bustling and rapidly expanding at the time, with publications spanning nature, art, food and more.

Her remarkable path at Essence began in 1970, when she joined the new magazine as managing editor. Just a year later, in 1971, she became editor-in-chief at age 26, shortly after a group of Black entrepreneurs invested in the idea that Black women were eager for a magazine that would embrace their culture, lifestyle and experiences.

After a decade at Essence, she joined Ms. magazine in 1980, first as a contributing writer and editor, then as an executive editor, before taking the helm as editor-in-chief from 1993 to 2001. She became the first Black woman to lead the magazine.

Before the Gender Gap Had a Name, Ms. Saw Women’s Political Power Coming: Six Stories From the Archives on the Power of Women Voters

PUBLISHED 11/3/2026 by

A record 590 women filed to run for the U.S. House during the 2026 election cycle. Women candidates are also poised to make history in gubernatorial races across the country: Deb Haaland could become the nation’s first Native American woman governor in New Mexico, while Keisha Lance Bottoms could become the first Black woman governor in U.S. history if elected in Georgia.

Yet women still hold only about 28 percent of seats in Congress. And the stakes of this election—from reproductive freedom and immigration enforcement, to voting rights and the future of constitutional equality—extend far beyond the number of women elected.

For more than five decades, Ms. has documented the growing power of women voters, candidates and elected officials. We’ve tracked the gender gap, challenged the barriers facing women in politics and explored what it would mean to build a democracy that represents all of us.

These six selections from the Ms. Archive trace that history—from the earliest predictions of women’s political power, to today’s calls to fundamentally remake American democracy. (Full access to these selections and the entirety of 50+ years of issues of Ms. is available via the Ms. Magazine Archive on ProQuest, from Clarivate.)

Missouri Voters Already Said Yes to Abortion Rights in 2024. Will Lawmakers Listen in 2026?

PUBLISHED 11/2/2026 by , and

Two years ago, Missouri voters approved a constitutional amendment protecting abortion rights, overturning one of the nation’s strictest abortion bans. Now, they’re being asked to undo it.

Feminists and reproductive healthcare advocates urge Missourians to vote no on Amendment 3.

Meanwhile, voters in Idaho, Nevada and Virginia are considering measures to protect or expand abortion rights.

Ms. spoke to Hannah Ledford, executive director of the nonprofit Fairness Project, about what these midterms mean for abortion rights. The Fairness Project works on ballot measures around the country on issues including minimum wage, paid sick days and Medicaid expansion.

Here We Go Again… Trump Is *Still* Trying to Intervene in the Midterms, Courts Are Pushing Back

PUBLISHED 11/2/2026 by

Millions of Americans have already voted, millions more will head to the polls Tuesday.

Meanwhile, courts across the country are confronting an extraordinary series of eleventh-hour demands from the Trump administration. But judges across the political spectrum are pushing back, in unusually forceful opinions.

One of the most consequential legal fights is unfolding in California, where the Trump administration is seeking to prevent the counting of ballots associated with more than 20,000 registered voters it suspects are noncitizens. On Oct. 28, U.S. District Judge David O. Carter rejected the Justice Department’s request, questioning the reliability of the government’s evidence and warning that its demands could disenfranchise eligible voters: “If the Executive can discount votes and threaten an ongoing election due to unproven allegations, then our democracy is in danger.”

Keep calm and vote. (Then bring a friend!)

A Pregnant Haitian Woman Faces an Uncertain Future After Trump Ends Temporary Protected Status: ‘I’m Sorry I’m Bringing Her Into This World’

PUBLISHED 11/1/2026 by

Marie (a pseudonym) lay on the cold examination table again, watching as the doctor moved the ultrasound wand across her belly. Eight months pregnant, after suffering a miscarriage in August 2025, she was navigating a high-risk pregnancy complicated by avascular necrosis, a condition that eventually led to a double hip replacement.

Now, as she listened to her baby girl’s heartbeat, she couldn’t help but wonder whether the receptionist had frowned at her because she was having a bad day or because something in Marie’s file had made her consider calling U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

As I sat with Marie, I watched as she held back tears when she spoke about her daughter and the guilt she felt. “I feel so bad for her sometimes… I’m sorry that I’m bringing her into this world under these circumstances. It feels like somehow failing in life.”

Marie’s exhaustion is not unique within the Haitian community. Earlier this month, the community buried Pierre Damas Bel, a 20-year-old Haitian college student who died by suicide on Aug. 31 after losing TPS and being required to wear an ankle monitor by ICE.

I asked Marie what she hoped for her daughter. Rubbing her belly, she said, “I would love for her to grow up in a world where she’s not going to experience the things that I’m experiencing … Being a community organizer, I’ve seen change happen in my lifetime, so I know it is possible for things to change. Nothing can stay the same. I’m hopeful that the generation that we are in will help turn the boat around.”

With the Nov. 3 midterm elections approaching, voters have an opportunity to examine where candidates stand on Temporary Protected Status, immigration enforcement and access to healthcare for immigrant families.

These aren’t abstract policy debates for people like Marie. They’re questions of whether a mother can afford prenatal care, whether she can work to support her family and whether she can imagine a secure future for her daughter.

The Affordability Crisis Is Also a Caregiving Crisis. Just Ask America’s Women.

PUBLISHED 10/31/2026 by

As Americans head to the polls, affordability is top of mind for most U.S. voters: Ninety percent of them say the cost of living is a “very” or “extremely” important issue for candidates to discuss

But when it comes to the “affordability” conversation, one major financial burden often gets overlooked: the cost of caring for a child, an aging parent or yourself in a country without a national paid family and medical leave program. 

Paid Leave for All—the national campaign of dozens of organizations fighting for federal paid family leave—has used the last few weeks before Nov. 3 to travel to battleground states and connect with local communities about the affordability crisis and the need for paid leave policies.

None of the states on the Paid Leave for All bus tour have statewide paid leave policies. (Only 14 U.S. states and the District of Columbia have paid leave programs in place, leaving paid leave policies up to individual employers in the other 36 states.) 

However, all three—Pennsylvania, Michigan and Ohio—have bills that could improve state paid leave if they move through the legislature in the coming months. And this largely depends on which candidates people vote into office next week.

“However people vote or whatever you identify politically, what happens next week is going to determine what we’re able to do federally,” Dawn Huckelbridge, founding director of Paid Leave for All, told Ms.

Men Don’t Get to Decide How Women Vote—or How We Live

PUBLISHED 10/31/2026 by

A woman’s vote belongs to her and no one else. It is a fundamental expression of her independence, her judgment and her equal standing in American democracy.

Yet some Christian nationalist leaders are openly advocating for “household voting”—a system in which husbands would typically cast ballots for their families. The idea may not have widespread public support, but its growing visibility among powerful political figures reflects a broader threat: the belief that women’s voices, choices and ambitions should be subordinate to men’s.

Pastor Doug Wilson has advocated for household voting, an idea Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth helped amplify in 2025 when he shared a video featuring pastors who argued that men should cast ballots for their households—and that the 19th Amendment, which guarantees women’s right to vote, should be repealed.

In 2026, women can answer by using their own voices, casting their own ballots, and insisting that their lives are reflected in the data that shapes policy. Before Nov. 3, check your registration and your state’s ID rules, especially if your name has changed. Then vote and bring someone with you. And after Election Day, stay engaged. Many of these decisions will be made in state legislatures and federal agencies next year, and the people we elect will answer for them.