Author: Diana Onken, Interim Deputy at Save the Children Action Network

Kids won big on Election Day 2025!

Voters in Virginia, Colorado, and Washington made choices that will change children’s lives—and Save the Children Action Network (SCAN) was right there making it happen.

Virginia: Kids Have Champions in Richmond

SCAN was proud to help make history by contributing to the victory of Abigail Spanberger – Virginia’s next governor. Spanberger is committed to affordable child care and healthy meals for kids. As one of the most bipartisan lawmakers during her time in Congress, we know she’ll take a solutions-oriented approach to ensure kids have a strong start in life.

She’ll be joined by the bipartisan slate of early childhood champions we helped elect to the House of Delegates.

We helped elect these lawmakers by combining smart strategy with grassroots power. We ran digital ads on child care and nutrition targeting moms concerned about affordability. And we layered thousands of calls, texts, postcards, and door knocks to turn out moms who don’t always show up.

Colorado: Keeping Kids Fed and Learning

Colorado voters passed Propositions LL and MM, securing long-term funding for Healthy School Meals for All and even creating a reserve to protect the program for years to come. Extra revenue will also help families struggling with SNAP cuts.

SCAN served on the steering committee and provided funding to the Keep Kids Fed Colorado campaign early to expand voter reach. We also mobilized our volunteers to reach voters through pledge-to-vote-yes drives, texts, postcards, and door knocks.

And we didn’t stop there! We backed local measures to expand preschool and child care access in Larimer County (1B) and Garfield, Pitkin, and SW Eagle counties (7A) as well. Both of these local measures passed!

Seattle: Doubling Access to Early Learning

Seattle voters said YES to kids by renewing the Families, Education, Preschool & Promise Levy with Proposition 1—and the impact is huge.

This win means:

• 600 new preschool seats and 800 new child care assistance slots, serving more than 1,400 families and saving them about $6,500 per child every year.
• Prenatal-to-three supports for 750 children annually, giving babies and toddlers the healthy start they need for kindergarten success.

And because great programs need great people, the levy will also provide stipends to 5,000 early educators each year—helping keep the professionals who shape children’s earliest learning experiences right where they belong: in the classroom.

We supported the campaign by turning out voters through postcard writing, text banking, educational emails, and social media outreach. Beyond mobilizing people, we played a key role behind the scenes. SCAN joined the Every Child Ready campaign at pitch meetings to secure organizational endorsements, serving as a trusted validator. And we backed it up with action—making a direct contribution to support broader voter communication efforts.

Why It Matters

These wins reflect promises kept to kids:

• Affordable, high-quality child care for more families.
• Healthy school meals for every public school child in Colorado.
• Expanded early learning opportunities in Seattle.

And it shows that voters across party lines prioritized the needs of children.

What’s Next

The fight isn’t over. Many states are facing fiscal challenges and the threat of federal funds cuts is pervasive. And 2026 will be a pivotal election year. But with your help, we’ll keep kids front and center—because when we invest in kids, we invest in America.

Join us. Donate. Volunteer. Speak up. Together, we can make sure every child gets the strong start they deserve.