Proposals related to housing affordability, land use planning, public transit, climate resiliency, and tenant protections were on ballots in towns, cities, and states throughout the U.S. this week.
Multiple districts that voted for President Trump in 2023 swung back to Democrats in the 2025 general election, a referendum of sorts. Pundits say this November’s election can be understood as a “rebuke” to the Trump administration, most presciently its immigration policies and inability to combat inflation.
Only time will tell, but the high-approval ratings in favor of affordable housing, public transit, and nature conservation are perhaps a bellwether for what’s to come in 2028.
Housing
There were a total eight housing-related ballot measures in Colorado, Montana, New York, and Washington.
In New York City, Zohran Mamdani was elected mayor, and all three ballot proposals related to affordable housing were approved by voters. Now, exemptions for higher-density residential projects will be granted more often than permitted today, under the Uniform Land Use Review Process.
At the time of publication, Seattle mayor Bruce Harrell has a narrow lead against his opponent Katie Wilson. The latter candidate has pledged to pursue a $1 billion bond for union-built affordable housing, thereby empowering the Seattle Social Housing Developer.
And in Bellingham, Washington, renters earned protection from landlord retaliation against tenant organizing.
A ballot measure in Bozeman, Montana, would have given developers the opportunity to provide cash-in-lieu of water rights if they committed a percentage of new dwelling units as affordable, but that proposal failed, miserably.
In another loss for housing advocates, Littleton, Colorado, voters stymied a zoning change that would have allowed larger, denser housing developments from taking hold.
Transit
A total $11.7 billion has been approved by voters to fund public transit services around the U.S. The American Public Transportation Association (APTA) applauded the 81 percent winning rate among 16 public transit-related measures, in seven different states.
In Charlotte, North Carolina, Mecklenburg County voters chose to increase the sales tax by one percent, an increase that will invest $11.6 billion in rail and bus services over the next 30 years.
Transportation will also be improved in Albuquerque, Oklahoma City, and several other U.S. cities.
“Transit is winning,” said Jessica Grennan, APTA executive director, after the results were tabulated. “It doesn’t matter if you’re rural or urban, transit allows people to live their lives.”
Land Use
The Trust for Public Land likewise celebrated the $3.2 billion in voter-approved funding that will be allocated for parks, wildfire prevention, clean drinking water, and climate resiliency efforts. Now, more tax dollars will support conservation efforts in Colorado, Idaho, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Washington.
In New Jersey, coinciding with Democrat Mikie Sherrill’s gubernatorial victory against Trump-backed Republican candidate Jack Ciattarelli, voters in Monmouth County opted this week to raise taxes in order to add more park land to the public’s nature reserve, and improve existing green spaces.
It was a similar ballot outcome in New York, where voters passed a constitutional amendment for an Olympic sports complex, protecting 2,500 acres of forest from development in exchange for allowing new recreational infrastructure at Mount Van Hoevenberg.
“These victories reaffirm that protecting land, water, and habitat and ensuring close-to-home access to nature is not a partisan issue. It is a shared American value,” Carrie Besnette Hauser, Trust for Public Land president and CEO, said in a statement.
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