Despite 2025 being an ‘off’ year election child care was very much ‘on’ the ballot.
Child care is a national issue with far-reaching implications for our economy, workforce, and communities, and voters in 2025 confirmed their support for it. With soaring child care prices, workforce shortages, and uncertainty around federal funding, families and advocates are watching and listening closely to what their elected officials are promising and prioritizing. For many voters across party lines, this means meaningful and lasting solutions to ensure the affordability and accessibility of quality child care in their communities. With election results for most races called and the final round of special elections for the year concluded, we have a better understanding of our new political landscape and what that means for child care as we prepare for 2026 and beyond.
Ballot measure breakdown: What state and local ballot results reveal
Ballot measures give voters a direct voice in how public resources are used and which priorities will advance. In 2025, voters across at least three states weighed in on child care-focused measures. All ballot measures passed, two of which were renewals for already existing programs.
- In Colorado, voters in Garfield, Pitkin, and Southwest Eagle Counties approved Measure 7A to establish a new early childhood service district and fund it with a sales tax increase of 0.25%. This will generate about $12 million a year to provide sliding-scale child care and preschool tuition credits for families, support wage increases and grants for early childhood educators and providers, and expand local care capacity.
- Also in Colorado, Larimer County voters approved Measure 1B, creating a dedicated, voter-approved children’s fund by also implementing a 0.25% countywide sales tax. It is estimated to generate approximately $28 million annually, which will be used to support early care and education professionals with increased wages, professional development, increased access to healthcare benefits, and more.
- Over 78% of voters inSeattle, Washington approved the renewal and expansion of Every Child Ready Levy (previously named Families, Education, and Preschool Promise Levy) which was set to expire. The portion of funding directed towards child care is expected to double the number of affordable and accessible child care slots provided by the previous levy.
- Residents in Cincinnati, Ohio re-authorized a property-tax levy to continue funding the city’s preschool program (Cincinnati Preschool Promise) and Cincinnati Public Schools that is expected to generate $48 million annually for 10 years. A portion of the funds generated will be used to secure tuition and resources for over 5,250 children annually in participating community-based preschool providers.
Shifts in State Politics
While overall partisan control in states remained relatively stable, the 2025 elections produced some shifts. These changes are important to note as divided government can sometimes lead to slower action, while supermajorities can drive forward agreed upon policy agendas. Democrats held the governorship in New Jersey and flipped it in Virginia, which brings the national tally to 24 Democratic and 26 Republican governors. Legislative control remained largely unchanged with 18 Democratic, 28 Republican, and 4 split chambers. Virginia’s gubernatorial flip was the only change in full government control, leaving 16 states fully under Democratic control, 23 under Republican control, and 11 with split government.
The elections also altered legislative supermajorities. In Mississippi, Democrats picked up two state Senate seats, along with one House seat, breaking Republicans' 13-year supermajority in the upper chamber. New Jersey Democrats flipped multiple seats and gained a supermajority in the Assembly. In 2026, Democrats will hold supermajorities in both chambers in 9 states and Republicans in 20 states. There were 26 legislative special elections across the country, including two special elections in Minnesota’s Senate. With each party picking up a seat, the Minnesota Senate remains in Democratic control, with 34 Democrats and 33 Republicans.
Gubernatorial and mayoral elections Is child care a winning campaign strategy?
Governors and mayors play a key role in shaping child care policy by setting state and local priorities, proposing state and city budgets, appointing key policy leaders, and—for governors—enacting or vetoing legislation. Governors and mayors can also use their platforms to rally public and legislative support, framing child care as essential to the state’s or city’s economy and workforce.
While not an exhaustive scan of all policymakers running for office in 2025, it is noteworthy that both the Virginia and New Jersey governor-elects and the New York City mayor-elect campaigned with plans to prioritize child care:
- Virginia Governor-elect Abigail Spanberger (D shared her vision to improve child care in Virginia as part of her comprehensive Strengthening Virginia Schools plan. Spanberger indicated her support for increased investments to the state’s subsidy program so more families can participate, while improving communication about other available supports to families on the state’s subsidy waitlist. She also indicated her support for building high-quality child care by encouraging provider participation in the state’s quality rating and improvement system, and strengthening professional development for educators, expanding free dual-enrollment coursework, providing bonuses in hard-to-staff regions, and promoting effective coaching practices. Spanberger’s plan promotes public and employer cost-sharing models to lower child care costs and highlights the importance of increasing the supply of child care by removing zoning barriers that do not impact the health and safety of children and staff. It also aims to prevent benefit cliffs that penalize working families and to expand access to early intervention and wraparound services. Her campaign also elevated paid family and medical leave as foundational to helping families with young children stay afloat. Previously, Spanberger served as the U.S Representative for Virginia’s 7th Congressional district.
- In New Jersey, Governor-elect Mikie Sherrill (D) highlighted her previous experience as a child care champion while serving as the U.S. Representative for New Jersey’s 11th Congressional district. Sherrill was the House sponsor for the Child Care for Every Community Act of 2025, and helped pass legislation that expanded the federal child tax credit—something she intends to expand in New Jersey. In her Affordability Agenda, Sherrill highlights the needs to expand on-the-job training for child care ;workers, build partnerships to expand universal pre-K, and collaborate with employers to offer child care supports.
- The mayor-elect of New York City, Zohran Mamdani, centered his platform on implementing universal child care for every New Yorker aged 6 weeks to 5 years old. Mamdani also plans to increase wages for child care workers to be at parity with public school teachers.
Together, these wins across three politically distinct states and localities show that addressing child care affordability and accessibility is not just good policy but energizes voters to come out and cast their ballots.
What’s Next?
The 2025 election results reveal that even in the face of fiscal uncertainty and competing priorities, many communities are choosing to invest in early learning and elect candidates that care about child care. Next month, more than half of the states scheduled to hold a legislative session in 2026 will gavel in, and state policymakers will be sharing their legislative and funding priorities for the year.
The path ahead requires sustained political will, coordination between federal, state, and local policies and funding, and the continued pressure from child care advocates like you. Despite the 2026 federal midterms being only a year away, there is no need to wait until elections to show up for child care—become an advocate to stay informed year-round!
