Letter From the Editor: Welcome to 2026! Women Are Shaping What Comes Next.

Welcome to 2026!

Here at Ms., we’re looking forward to the new year, prepared for the battles ahead, from Capitol Hill and the Supreme Court, to statehouses and ballot boxes, workplaces and classrooms. And if 2025 taught us anything, it’s that women will play a decisive role in the outcomes—whether in their roles as lawmakers on Capitol Hill, in statehouses and mayors’ offices across the country; in academia, in media and in newsrooms; or as a powerful voting bloc.

You already know this if you read Ms.: Women voters took 2025’s elections by storm. As we report in our Winter issue, “Women turned out at higher rates than men and made up a majority of voters, and historic gender gaps reshaped the political landscape.” That included a 17-point gender gap in Virginia’s governors’ race, leading Abigail Spanberger to become the state’s first woman governor. And a 13-point gender gap led Mikie Sherrill to likewise make history in New Jersey’s gubernatorial race.

To put this in perspective, if men had been the only citizens allowed to vote in both elections, Trump-backed anti-women’s rights candidates would be the incoming governors in both states. Both Spanberger and Sherrill are strong feminists, winning elections where abortion rights and gender equality were front-burner issues in the campaigns.

What does this mean as candidates start gearing up for the 2026 elections?

To us, it signals that women are tapped in to what’s going on, and will be the voters who reshape Congress, state legislatures, city councils, school boards—and with their votes, the future of the country and our very democracy.

As we wrap up the holiday season and prepare to return to work, I wanted to take a moment to thank you for being a part of the Ms. community. If you love the work we do, and are not already a subscriber, we’d love it if you joined us—for as little as $5 a month, you receive four print issues of Ms. magazine, special invitations to events with authors and leading experts on women’s health, politics and elections, and so much more.

With so much at stake, know that you can depend on Ms. to keep providing the thoughtful feminist reporting and analysis you count on to stay informed—and ready to fight back.

Here’s to another year of reporting, rebelling and truth-telling. We’re so glad you’re with us!