The elections in Virginia yesterday are rightfully being read as a referendum on Donald Trump. And how could it not be? The president poured dozens of tweets and other resources into the gubernatorial race there, a race his conservative candidate, Ed Gillespie, lost to the Democratic challenger, Ralph Northam. Now Trump’s trying, disgracefully and unconvincingly, to distance himself from Gillespie. It’s all pretty astonishing.

And so too is the fact that Danica Roem, a freshman politico who is also a trans woman, trounced her opponent, Bob Marshall, an entrenched conservative who wrote an anti-trans “bathroom bill” this year. Yes, that’s right: an anti-trans Republican had his ass handed to him by a trans woman who had far less experience. Was it because Roem had more money and better campaign infrastructure? No. It was because voters turned their backs on the divisive, hateful and just plain un-American politics Marshall, Gillespie and Trump spout with such ferocity.

This should give us hope that 2018 will see an even more forceful rejection of the president and his politics of hate. And, more important, that true Americans, those who believe in equality, inclusion and progress, will prevail in 2020.