Daily Brew: November 20, 2025
Welcome to the Thursday, Nov. 20, Brew.
By: Briana Ryan
Here’s what’s in store for you as you start your day:
- Where could abortion be on the ballot in 2026?
- Progressives maintain majority on Minneapolis City Council, but lose veto override power
- Bexar County, Texas, voters approve two ballot measures to increase tax revenue for stadiums
Where could abortion be on the ballot in 2026?
In 2026, voters in seven states may decide on abortion-related ballot measures. Measures in Missouri and Nevada are certified to appear on the ballot on Nov. 3, 2026. There are five other potential measures in Idaho, Montana, Nebraska, Oregon, and Virginia.
The measures in Missouri, Montana, and Nebraska are described as pro-life, while the measures in Nevada, Idaho, Oregon, and Virginia are described as pro-choice.
In Missouri, voters will decide on Amendment 3, which would repeal a 2024 amendment that voters approved 52% to 48%. The 2024 amendment added a fundamental right to reproductive freedom, including abortion to the state constitution.
In addition to repealing the 2024 amendment, Amendment 3 would also prohibit abortions except in cases of "medical emergency, fetal anomaly, rape, or incest," with a 12-week gestational limit in cases of rape or incest. Additionally, it would prohibit gender transition surgeries, as defined in the law, and the prescription of cross-sex hormones or puberty-blocking drugs to minors, except in cases unrelated to the purpose of gender transition.
In Nevada, voters will also decide on an amendment providing a right to an abortion. Because Nevada’s initiative constitutional amendment process requires voters to approve an amendment in two consecutive even-numbered years, this will be the second time voters will be deciding on this particular amendment. Voters first approved the measure in 2024 64% to 36%.
After the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, there has been an increase in abortion-related ballot measures. There were 11 such measures on the ballot in 2024—the most in a single year. That year, organizations described as pro-life supported one of these measures, and organizations described as pro-choice supported 10.
Between 1970 and 2024, voters decided 65 abortion-related measures. Organizations described as pro-life supported 44 of these measures, and organizations described as pro-choice supported 21.
Pro-life measures had a higher rate of success than pro-choice measures. Of the pro-life measures, voters approved 12 (27%) and defeated 32 (73%). Of the pro-choice measures, voters approved 15 (71%) and defeated six (29%).
The measures that might be on the ballot next year include:
- The Idaho Reproductive Freedom and Privacy Measure, which would say that "every person has the right to reproductive freedom and privacy, which entails the right to make and carry out one’s own reproductive decisions, including but not limited to decisions on: pregnancy; contraception; fertility treatment; prenatal and postpartum care; childbirth; continuing one’s own pregnancy; miscarriage care; and, abortion care."
- The Montana Definition of Person Amendment, which would define a person as “beginning at the stage of fertilization or conception.”
- The Nebraska Establish Personhood of Preborn Children Amendment, which says that a "preborn child is a person at every stage of development, beginning at fertilization."
- The Oregon Prohibit Laws Discriminating Based on Pregnancy Outcome, Gender Identity, Sexual Orientation, or Sex and Repeal Same-Sex Marriage Ban Initiative, which would expand the state’s constitutional rights provision that prohibits discrimination based on sex to also prohibit discrimination based on pregnancy, pregnancy outcomes, health decisions, gender identity, sexual orientation and marriage, and sex. It would also repeal the 2004 ban on same-sex marriage that voters approved 57% to 43%.
- The Virginia Right to Reproductive Freedom Amendment, which would establish "the right to make and effectuate one's own decisions about all matters related to one's pregnancy."
Click here for more information about abortion policy ballot measures.
Progressives maintain majority on Minneapolis City Council, but lose veto override power
On Nov. 4, all 13 seats on the Minneapolis City Council were up for election. While the Minneapolis municipal elections are officially nonpartisan, media outlets reported the council's progressive bloc maintained a seven-member majority but lost the ability to override Mayor Jacob Frey’s, a Democrat, vetoes. Nine votes are required to override a mayoral veto in Minneapolis.
According to Fox 9-TV's Mike Manzoni, progressives won a majority on the council in 2023 and "occasionally found two additional votes to get the nine needed to override a mayoral veto."
The Minnesota Star Tribune's Matt McKinney wrote that "In 2024, the bloc overrode Frey’s vetoes of a minimum pay rate for rideshare drivers, an Israel-Hamas ceasefire resolution and a carbon emissions fee. The bloc attempted but failed to override Frey’s veto of a new labor standards board and a denial of raises for about 160 high-paid city employees that Frey supported." In December 2024, the city council also overturned Frey's veto of the 2025 city budget.
The Minneapolis mayoral election was one of several in 2025 which the political observers described as highlighting a moderate-progressive split in the Democratic Party. In that race, Frey, who described himself as a pragmatic progressive, defeated Omar Fateh who described himself as a Democratic socialist.
All 13 city council races were contested. Nine of the 10 city council incumbents who ran for re-election won.
Despite Minneapolis elections being officially nonpartisan, the city’s Charter allows mayoral and city council candidates to choose a party label to appear below their name on the official ballot.
Of the 40 candidates who ran, 30 were Democrats, one was Republican, and nine were third-party or independent candidates. Twelve of the winning candidates chose Democrat as their party label, and one, Robin Wonsley, chose Democratic Socialists of America.
This will be the first Minneapolis City Council to serve four-year terms since the council that was elected in 2017. This is due to House File 653, which states that following redistricting after the U.S. Census, certain cities "where council members are elected by ward to serve for four years to terms that are not staggered, if the population of any ward changes by five percent or more, all council members must be elected to new terms at the first municipal general election after ward boundaries are redefined" and that " if no municipal general election would otherwise occur in the year ending in '2' or the year ending in '3,' a municipal general election must be held in one of those years." The Minnesota Legislature enacted House File 653 in 2010.
City council members who were elected in 2021 and 2023 served two-year terms.
Click here to check out the full results of this year’s Minneapolis City Council elections.
Bexar County, Texas, voters approve two ballot measures to increase tax revenue for stadiums
On Nov. 4, voters in Bexar County, Texas, which includes San Antonio, approved two ballot measures—Proposition A and Proposition B—which increase certain taxes and allocate revenue from the taxes towards the development of local arenas.
Both measures increased the county's hotel occupancy tax rate from 1.75% to 2% and established that revenue from both the hotel and the county's short-term motor vehicle rental taxes will be used for stadium projects.
Although both measures draw from the same tourist tax proceeds, they fund different stadium projects.
Voters approved Proposition A 56% to 44%. The measure will fund approximately $191.8 million worth of upgrades and renovations to the Frost Bank Center, Freeman Coliseum, and the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo Grounds.
Voters approved Proposition B 52% to 48%. The measure will fund approximately $311 million worth of construction and development for a new arena in downtown Hemisfair Park for the San Antonio Spurs, who will be leaving the Frost Bank Center after calling it home for more than 20 years.
Last year, there was at least one in Kansas City, Missouri, where voters rejected the renewal of a sales tax to fund stadium improvements for the Kansas City Chiefs and Kansas City Royals. In 2023, there were measures in Tempe, Arizona, and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. While Arizonans rejected the redevelopment plan for a professional sports franchise and entertainment district, voters in Oklahoma approved a sales tax measure to fund a development area for the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Click here to read more about Proposition A and here for more on Proposition B.
