I was in eighth grade when Donald Trump won the presidency in 2016. I wore all black to school the next day and cried in class. My teachers told me to calm down. In the years since, my home state of Florida has transformed from a purple to a red state. In my senior year of high school, I took AP psychology; two years later, Governor Ron DeSantis banned the course in public schools, in large part because it included scientifically based material on sexual orientation and gender identity. I’m now a college senior in Missouri, where I’ve worked in support of the right to abortion, which the state legislature essentially abolished in 2022. Both of these states have become MAGA strongholds and guinea pigs for the new Republican playbook.
All that’s to say I’m used to playing defense. As we confront full Republican control of the federal government in 2025, I’m prepared to keep holding the line. While many of us have reacted in horror to the results of this election, the policy agenda of the second Trump administration is one progressives in red states are used to fighting back against.
Missouri was the first state to enact a near-total abortion ban after the Dobbs ruling overturning Roe v. Wade. The result has been devastating as we watched the final clinic in St. Louis turn away patients. I’ve watched as national rhetoric has demonized red states like Missouri and Florida, but plenty of people in those states don’t agree with their state leaders and have been earnestly working to protect people’s rights.
In Missouri, our hard work has achieved some success. On November 6, voters enshrined the right to reproductive freedom into the state constitution, making the state the first to overturn a near-complete ban on abortion due to the will of the electorate. The people turned out to vote and proved that they were the solution to a ban propped up by anti-abortion politicians in state office. At the same time, despite voting to protect reproductive freedom, a majority of Missouri voters also elected Donald Trump and JD Vance, the very antithesis of those ideals.
In Florida too, a majority — 57.2% — of voters supported the right to abortion despite efforts by the state government and anti-abortion groups to spread misinformation about it. Yet, because Republican lawmakers raised the threshold for passing ballot amendments to 60%, the measure failed.
Democrats certainly need to conduct a post-mortem on what went wrong, but in the meantime, we need to bolster our resistance. Look to states like Missouri and Florida where an indefatigable resistance movement has been working for years. The success of Amendment 3 in Missouri is a testament to the commitment of reproductive freedom forces on the ground. The conversations we need to have with one another have been and will continue to be long and difficult. People in our state were willing to have them and that’s why we won.
First, don’t give up before the fight has begun. Although things look grim for Democrats in Washington, the current administration is far from over. We cannot just phone it in with less than three months of the Biden administration remaining. In these final days, we should pressure Biden to direct the archivist of the United States to certify and publish the Equal Rights Amendment, to pardon people convicted of nonviolent drug-related offenses, confirm outstanding judicial nominees, and be more explicit in calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, just to name a few.
Second, if you’re not a Biden administration staffer, lick your wounds then come back ready to fight. After Trump was elected in 2016, there was a massive influx in financial support for organizations like Planned Parenthood, the American Civil Liberties Union, and journalism outlets. I’m not sure that will happen this time. The opposition feels more exhausted. In some ways, that scares me more than the Trump victory itself. If you care about immigrants, reproductive rights, queer and trans youth, and BIPOC communities you do not have the luxury of remaining jaded these next four years.
While national organizations are always good options, I would urge you to support local and grassroots organizations and journalism outlets. In Missouri and practically every state where abortion referenda have been successful, those are the organizations that knocked on doors and listened to people who were confused about the legal landscape and scared to seek out care or even participate in the political process. If you can afford to do so, take out your credit card and make a donation. If you’re like me (a broke-ish college student), you can still engage in the process. Find these organizations operating without a strong national infrastructure and find community. It’s easy to feel alone in a state or a nation that voted to reelect someone you wouldn’t trust alone with your uncovered drink, much less the nuclear codes.
Last, be willing to reflect and have difficult conversations. We’ve reached a level of disinformation in this country that’s difficult to digest. Thirty-six percent of people still don’t believe Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election, according to a recent Washington Post-University of Maryland poll. Don’t take information for granted. Don’t assume everyone’s on the same page. On social media, it’s easy to unfollow someone if you have different opinions. In real life, it’s more difficult when a family member says something politically unsound or hurtful. It’s not your responsibility to prove your humanity to people. But when it feels possible and safe, have these difficult conversations and try to go into them seeking to understand rather than to blame. If anything is clear after this election, it’s that people are struggling, whether that's to get a job, support their families, pay off debt, or all of the above. If we want to change minds and mobilize an electorate as organizers did in Missouri, we have to be willing to listen.
If you’re still feeling depressed, remember that voters in Missouri and Florida turned out in support of access to abortion in 2024, despite the entrenched efforts of the state’s power brokers. Keep fighting. There’s a generation of young people who are begging you not to throw in the towel.
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