Virginians handed Democrats a huge win on Tuesday, electing Ralph Northam as governor and Justin Fairfax as lieutenant governor. Northam’s platform focused on abortion rights, climate change and racial justice, so his victory was a clear rebuke to Donald Trump. It also confirms that a diverse Democratic coalition now dominates politics in this former Confederate state, argues professor of American politics Toni-Michelle C. Travis. “The big question now,” she writes, “is whether the Democrats’ victory in Virginia portends a national trend.”

In the wake of the Weinstein scandal, a growing number of women are going public with their own stories of being harassed in the workplace. As a result, several top executives who had in the past received company protection from punishment have lost their jobs. But will this “#MeToo” movement meaningfully change the way employers deal with high-profile harassers? University of Oregon law professor Elizabeth Tippett believes the answer is a qualified yes.

And as the FBI investigates the mass shooting in Texas, it has again encountered an iPhone whose encryption it can’t break. As the privacy-encryption debate heats up again, several scholars provide their insights on whether police should be able to break into suspects’ digital devices, and how that balances with citizens’ need for privacy.