The 2026 midterm elections brought some surprising results across the country. But one thing that didn’t surprise us is how well Complete Streets did as a campaign issue for local candidates and on ballot measures. Safer streets that are better for walking and rolling are extremely popular. Here’s a quick roundup of some of the places where Americans voted for streets that work for everyone.

In October, we made the claim that streets that are safer and better for pedestrians, bikes, and transit are very popular and win at the ballot box. The recent elections gave a great opportunity to test that claim.

So what happened? Many candidates who included Complete Streets or related issues in their campaigns and ballot measures won big. Here are some—but certainly not all—of the local elected officials for whom Complete Streets was an important issue.

To be clear, none of these are single-issue candidates, so it isn’t easy to say exactly how much Complete Streets contributed to their victories. But each of the candidates below made them a top campaign priority. Examples of this include featuring the issue on their campaign website, producing social media content about road safety, or making commitments and promises to voters about how they will improve streets under their jurisdiction. As the following examples demonstrate–these efforts paid off!

The list below shows candidates winning in states across the country and at varying levels of government, including municipal, county, and district, proving that Complete Streets can be a winning issue anywhere.

• Linsey Grove–St. Petersburg, Florida, City Council District 6. Grove made investing in infrastructure, including Complete Streets, one of her top campaign priorities. She won with 55% of the vote.
• Minja Yan–Clark County, Nevada, County Commission. Yan campaigned on a number of transportation and land-use issues, including bringing light rail to Las Vegas and “making streets safer for all road users.” She won her election despite refusing corporate donations and being outraised by two competitors.
• John Pickhaver–El Segundo, California, City Council. (At the time of publication, he is leading the race for the two open city council seats.) Pickhaver is an advocate for safe streets, based on his experience as a community organizer, but it is also a deeply personal issue for him. He was struck by a car while running in 2021.
• Deb Engel–Essex County, New Jersey, County Commission. For Engel, “Safer Streets and Better Transportation” was a top priority for Essex County. She was elected with the second-highest vote total out of a field of nine candidates.
• Nithya Raman–Los Angeles, Mayor. The next mayor of America’s second-largest city is an advocate for street safety. Raman, an urban planner by trade, has supported safer streets for all users as a city council member and included transportation and safety as priorities in her platform.
• Christine Mcintosh, Cuyahoga County, Ohio, County Council–In her campaign, Mcintosh touted her experience as a city planner and city council member and included “complete streets and walkable corridors” as one of her campaign priorities. She won her race in a landslide with nearly 80% of the vote.
• Cassandra Vogl, Lexington Kentucky, City Council. As a community health and social work professional, Vogl prioritizes the safety and accessibility of the streets in her district. She won her election with 55% of the vote.
• Daniel Darris-O’Connor, Massachusetts House 22nd district. Darris-O’Connor made headlines as one of the youngest winners in the election at just nineteen years old. His political career is relatively short, but early evidence suggests he’s a friend of Complete Streets.

We can also check in on some ballot measures we’ve heard about related to Complete Streets. Again, the diversity of places here suggests that these types of changes are popular across the country.

• New York City Proposition 3–a measure that will make it easier for the city to implement new bike and bus lanes and other street design improvements passed easily (66%).
• From New York City, we shift to Medina, Ohio, where voters overwhelmingly approved (78%) an Ordinance Amendment to allow the city to install, maintain, repair, and replace public sidewalks using existing income tax revenue.
• In Edgewater, Colorado, voters approved Ballot Issue 2K, which will improve accessibility and walkability throughout the city with street improvements like sidewalks, bike lanes, crosswalks, and more. These improvements will be funded by a 0.5% sales tax.
• One bonus recent measure that passed on August 4 in Washington State was Connect Tacoma: Safe Streets and Sidewalks, which allows the city to make 10-year investments in “safer streets, better neighborhood connections, and improved transportation infrastructure.”

Winning an election is huge, but it’s just the first step. The real work will come when candidates follow through on promises and implement ballot measures. We will be watching (and cheering) for both!