The 2025 election showed why transportation matters in the affordability conversation
Affordability defined the 2025 election cycle. Several notable races pushed funding public transportation to the forefront, showing how investing in multimodal transportation can be part of a campaign on affordability.
Transportation is the second largest cost for households after housing, and numerous winning candidates who focus on housing and transportation affordability. And when the issue itself was on the ballot, it continued to perform well: According to the Center for Transportation Excellence, voters once again recognized the importance of continually expanding public transit by approving 84 percent of ballot measures that raised money for public transit. This year’s strong showing is in line with the recent historical trend: voters have supported 84 percent of public transit ballot measures since 2018.
There were wins for transportation across the country, but here are a few notable races:
1. Zohran Mamdani, New York
New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s upstart campaign exemplified the centrality of the affordability crisis in the 2025 election cycle. He pushed for fast, fare-free buses based on a previous pilot he co-sponsored as a New York State Assembly member. He notably placed his key transportation proposal under the “affordability” platform on his website, arguing that lowering transportation costs is a crucial way of making life easier for New Yorkers. While we may favor transit frequency and proximity to housing over fare-free transit, the campaign was right: transportation is absolutely at the heart of the affordability conversation.
2. Katie Wilson, Washington
Seattle mayor-elect Katie Wilson started her transportation advocacy as a cofounder of Seattle’s Transit Riders Union in 2011, spending the next 14 years of her career fighting against bus-service cuts while working to establish reduced fares for low-income riders and students. She then added housing to her advocacy, supporting a payroll tax that would fund affordable housing construction. After the current mayor refused to support the ballot measure for the payroll tax she helped craft, Wilson left the Transit Riders Union and began her successful run for mayor, campaigning for affordable, abundant housing and building a “world-class public transportation system.”
Her campaign contained an incredibly wide spectrum of transportation and housing ideas that transcend political categories. She campaigned for robust social housing and abundant market-rate, private development in order to make Seattle’s housing market more affordable. She also stumped for shifting trips in cars to other modes, creating pedestrianized superblocks, removing permitting hurdles for transit projects, and prioritizing safety for those walking and biking. She secured an unexpected win over an incumbent because of her promise for affordability through the building of more housing and the expansion of comprehensive public transportation and active transportation networks.
3. Mikie Sherrill, New Jersey
In the New Jersey governor’s race, both candidates championed ideas of smart growth. The ultimate winner of the race Mikie Sherrill supported mass transit investment as a means of combatting congestion, avoiding the siren song of roadway expansion. She also espoused a fix-it-first mindset, calling for repairing existing bridges and roadways before building more, keeping up New Jersey’s recent trend of spending on maintenance over expansion. The Republican candidate Jack Ciaterelli championed stopping sprawl and placing new housing in locations with more abundant transportation options. The New Jersey governor’s race shows that good ideas for tackling affordability in housing and transportation are not limited to any party.
North Carolina votes yes on transportation investments
Charlotte voters also backed an increase in their sales tax to raise more than 19 billion for a wide range of transportation investments. The successful measure will direct 40 percent of new revenues to commuter rail and light rail expansions, 20 percent to improvements to bus frequencies, and 40 percent to roadway expansions and walking and biking infrastructure. While Charlotte and the surrounding suburbs may seem to be affordable in comparison to other metro areas in the U.S., its housing costs are rising quicker than their average household income. At the same time, there is a severe lack of public transit and walking and biking infrastructure. With many North Carolinians lacking or having limited access to a vehicle, investing in public transportation is one of the best ways to address affordability in the area. With this vote, the largest city in North Carolina will finally get commuter rail, extend their streetcar and light rail network, and invest in a network of safer streets for people walking and biking.
In these local and state races, when they are given a choice, voters repeatedly choose to support funding public transportation. Congress would do well by learning from this lesson.