BARCELONA – It’s three hours before we board the first leg of our flight home from the exact same tour of España we took 17 years ago when our legs were stronger and our hair darker.  Spain is quite a treat, especially with the dollar almost equal to the euro and the food delightful no matter where you go.

I should be checking out the duty-free discounts, but no: This morning a Vibe from my bff in Vancouver raving about Zohran Mamdani tipped me off to his victory over ex-Guv Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa in a Cinderella story to become the next Mayor of New York, vowing among other things – universal child care, expanded public transportation and government intervention in the free market system.

Remarkable.

In more rebuke of President Trump, Virginia and New Jersey sent two women, Democrats Abigail Spanberger and Mikie Sherrill to head their respective states.

And finally, what a win for our own Governor Newsom, who pulled all the stops to guarantee a “take-that” to the GOP supreme leader.  Newsom asked voters to approve emergency congressional district maps in response to Trump move  redrawing Texas congressional districts allegedly to lean Republican in advance of next year’s midterms.  

Newsom couldn’t authorize the switch since the 2008 vote to assign the remap to an independent commission, so he had to put it on the ballot.  The process reverts to the California Independent Citizens Commission in 2030.

Despite opposition from still-loved former Governator Arnold Schwarzenegger and surely some tech titans, the Obama-Ocasio Cortez- Steyer led Yes on Prop 50 campaign triumphed.

As my keen U.S.-observer armchair voter best friend Moy Magsaysay propounded:

“It took hungry stomachs and poor health care for the American electorate to wake up.”  But in the same breath uttered, “Sadly, Filipinos just take it (broken campaign pledges) as a matter of course.”

Indeed, we were promised instant lower cost of living, but 11 months into the new administration we’re facing worse sticker shock when these tariffs on Trump enemy states kick in.

You don’t have to be liberal, progressive or anti-MAGA to be assuaged by the election results.  Notice how voters responded “overwhelmingly” in all the four states mentioned.  

What’s crucial is to stay engaged, not shrug shoulders and say one vote won’t make a difference. Be curious.  Know, understand and discuss the issues with people who have opposing views to hear both sides.  Make a critical judgment.  Then vote.  People died for that privilege our to choose our leaders and how they run our country.

 Imagine if each New Yorker thought a Muslim socialist Gen-Xer had less chance of getting elected to lead their snobby city than for snow to fall on Manila in May?

(Cherie M. Querol Moreno is Philippine News Today Executive Editor.)