Every September 21, Earth Wind & Fire’s song “September,” with its iconic opening line “Do you remember the 21st night of September?” makes us think of a different America — one that could be.
It’s an America that believes the future can be brighter, that we can coexist across our differences and importantly, that we can all be brought together by enjoying a disco bop.
That song feels almost bittersweet in 2026. It emerged in the 1970s, a period of political and social change, and became a soundtrack for unity. Now, nearly five decades later, September 21 arrives as we’re preparing a consequential midterm election, but it feels far removed from the song’s carefree optimism.
The numbers back up the feeling. In July, only 25 percent of Americans thought favorably of Congress. And only 55 percent said they thought the midterm election would be run fairly, down from 61 percent in 2024, according to the Pew Research Center.
And now, people are already heading to the polls. In Virginia, South Dakota and Minnesota, some votes can be cast now by early or absentee methods . Early voting will open in other states in the coming weeks.
“Say, do you remember?” is more than a lyric. Some communities have ingrained practices of remembering early voting.
Nearly half of all voters cast ballots early in the last midterm election, including two-thirds of Asian Americans and the majority of Hispanic voters, according to the Brennan Center for Justice. That’s despite efforts to suppress the political power of these rapidly growing communities.
The America EWF sang about in 1978 doesn’t look like the America of 2026. The electorate has changed key.
White people are still the majority of voters at 61 percent, but that number is dropping. Meanwhile, the Latino and Asian shares of the voting population have nearly doubled in the past 20 years, according to the Pew Research Center. More than half of the growth in the electorate came from Latino voters. Black voters have held steady at about 12 percent of the population during the past two decades.
First-time voters are also changing the mix of the electorate.
“September” was written before many of this year’s first-timers were even born. About 47 percent of the 49 million young people eligible to vote this year are people of color, including nearly 11 million Latinos, more than 6 million Black people, more than 2 million Asian Americans and more than 2 million multiracial, according to the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement at Tufts University.
But numbers don’t always mean proportionate turnout. CIRCLE reported that in 2024, white young people had 55 percent turnout, followed by Asian Americans at 43 percent, Black Americans at 34 percent and Latinos at 32 percent.
The gap between who can vote and who does vote is where the optimism of “September” will be tested.
If you’re rocking out to EWF’s “September” this year, maybe you’re hearing more than just the horns. Maybe you’re hearing the question “What happened to an America that believed we could all be better?”
The midterm election could answer the question about whether hope is really going to be part of our politics going forward.
