Transportation funding levels and policies directly impact the issues that voters care about most. A good-paying job, affordable groceries, and quality health care are a lot less meaningful if you’re in traffic for hours each day, spend over a thousand dollars every month on car expenses, and risk financial ruin from a pothole each time you get behind the wheel to go to work, the grocery store, or the doctor’s office. On these very salient issues—as well as a wide range of other issues, such as supply-chain-related inflation, veterans’ access to health care, and the successful re-entry of incarcerated people into society—better transportation policy and, especially, support for public transit can improve people’s lives.
Voters recognize this. In every year since 2018, over three-quarters of local ballot measures to fund public transit have passed. Further, opinion polling shows that the public strongly supports investments in public transit, walking and biking, as well as “fix it first” policies that prioritize properly maintaining existing roads over expensive and damaging highway expansion.
With the expiration of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) on September 30, 2026, federal elected officials will soon have an opportunity to harness this popularity. While it is possible Congress will pass a full replacement this year, it is also possible that there will be a one-year extension into 2027. Either way, this means that candidates for Congress in 2026 have a rare chance to run on delivering improvements to public transit that are popular in communities around the country, year after year.
We have created the briefing below to educate any and all candidates running for federal office about issues related to public transit so that they are better equipped to address the needs of their constituents.