The rights of abortion won big in the elections
Andy Beshear: The Case Against Joe Biden and Protecting Proton Interruption in Kentucky’s House of Representatives
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, a Democrat, won re-election after facing a challenge from the state’s Republican attorney general, Daniel Cameron, who opposes abortion rights and has defended Kentucky’s strict abortion laws in court.
In 2015, just 30.6% of voters cast ballots. In 2019, more than two in five Kentuckians voted — one of the highest rates for an off-year election in the state.
Even before he first ran for office in 2015, his family name was familiar to many Kentuckians. His father, Steve Beshear, has been involved in state politics since 1974 and served as governor from 2007 to 2015.
The race is about our children and their offspring. It’s about making sure that this Commonwealth has a governor that, rather than endorse Joe Biden which is what we have in Andy Beshear, will actually stand up and fight against Joe Biden,” Cameron said as he introduced Trump.
“It’s unbelievable, I dare say crazy, that you’d have a governor who would endorse the policies and the president who have created this mess that we’re in,” Cameron said, referring largely to inflation.
He served as the Kentucky’s attorney general and is a relative newcomer to politics. He has close ties to Kentucky’s Senate Minority LeaderMitch McConnell. He and McConnell first met when he received a scholarship for an undergrad, and he would later serve as his legal counsel, which played a part in shepherding the confirmation of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court.
For some Kentuckians and onlookers, the election is also a poignant reminder of Breonna Taylor, who was killed in a police raid in 2020, prompting protests in Louisville and across the country. As attorney general, Taylor’s death was not investigated for the purpose of charging officers.
Beshear also came under fire from some activists for calling in the National Guard to Louisville in the midst of the racial-justice protests years ago. The National Guard members were involved in the killing of the restaurant owner.
Unlike Ohio, abortion access is not directly on the ballot in Kentucky. The issue is still front and center in Beshear’s campaign.
“I believe that victims of rape and incest deserve options, that there has to be an exception,” Beshear said at a gubernatorial debate. Some of the girls were as young as 9 years old and their opponent would make them carry their rapist’s baby.
“To tell a girl that she must have a baby from the person who raped her is completely unacceptable,” the woman said in the ad.
Initially, Cameron fully supported the state’s total ban and cheered the Supreme Court’s overturning of the constitutional right to abortion. After Beshear and his supporters ran ads attacking him for not supporting exceptions for rape and incest, CAMERON wavered on his stance.
“Look, I think that the legislature, if they work on this, I will sign those exceptions,” Cameron said. “But at the end of the day, I’m the pro-life candidate.”
Does the Kentucky Democratic Primary Preliminary Elections Predict? The Voting Activity Revealed by Betshear in an Outburst
Beshear has pointed to recent economic development and large-scale infrastructure projects — which were partially funded by the bipartisan infrastructure law Biden signed in 2021.
Beshear’s campaign has released a series of ads featuring Trump supporters and Republicans saying they will vote for Beshear because he also represents their interests.
“People should be able to vote for whoever they want, not stick to just one team or another but to actually look at the candidates and say, ‘Who is going to make my life better?'” Beshear said.
Kentucky Republicans are excited for presidential elections. In odd-years, Democrats and Republicans tend to show up at roughly similar rates.
“You have people that come out of the woodwork to vote for a president, and then the officers that are far more important to their daily lives and their quality of living — they don’t vote for that,” he said.
“People kind of look at you like they’ve never heard any of this before,” Adams said. “And then you take questions and the questions are about Kevin McCarthy and Jim Jordan.”
This is the first gubernatorial race in Kentucky in which Kentuckians have the chance to vote an extra three days. More people in Kentucky took advantage of the early voting this year than last year’s midterm election.
This year’s gubernatorial race has also been one of the most expensive in state history. The amount spent by the two candidates and their allies since the primary has doubled that of the previous race.
Source: Does national politics trump all? Kentucky voters are about to find out.
The 2018 Kentucky Public Radio Polls: Where are we heading? What do we stand on the issue of abortion in the era of the 21st century?
The results of this election will shed light on just how much partisan lines are deepening and whether national political allegiances trump all ahead of the 2024 election cycle.
We get coverage from Kentucky Public Radio, a four-station collaborative of Louisville Public Media, WKU Public Radio,WKMS and WEKU. Click here to find out more about their coverage in Kentucky.
All 140 legislative seats in Virginia were up for grabs this year. Democrats not only maintained control of the state Senate but also won enough seats to flip the House, giving them more power to push back on Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin and his agenda.
The entire 140-seat legislature was up for grabs. The elections received a lot of national attention, with high-profile Democrats like President Biden and former President Barack Obama campaigning for their party.
The abortion issue appeared to be a winning issue for the second general election in a row, even more than a year after the Supreme Court decided to overturn the longstanding federal ban on abortion.
Republicans, led by Youngkin, have been trying to recast their messaging on abortion, pushing a position they framed as a middle ground on the issue: a ban on the procedure at 15 weeks, with exceptions for rape, incest, and the life of the mother.
Don Scott, the minority leader of House Democrats, toldNPR that the Democratic candidates had what it takes to stop the extreme Republicans.
Scott is the favorite to become the speaker of the House. He would be the first Black speaker in the Virginia House of Delegates if elected.
The Red Column: Relating Proposed Amendments to Abortion Laws in a Divided Legislature to Protect Femtostability
In what became one of the most closely watched campaigns of the year, Ohio voters approved a ballot initiative putting protections for reproductive health decisions in the state constitution, including abortion at least until fetal viability.
With the entire legislature up for re-election, Democrats managed to take control of the state House of Delegates while maintaining control of the state Senate – an important goal for abortion rights supporters in a state with a divided legislature and a Republican governor.
“Ohio is the first state that I really think we can put in that red column that says ‘We can win, and we can do it on offense,'” Hall says. “And that is an inspiring example that shines a light on the path for other red states.”
Issue 1 was put on the ballot in August by Republican lawmakers, which would have made it harder to amend the state constitution. Ohio voters turned out in larger-than-expected numbers to reject that proposal.
There are signs that legislation is out of touch with the Kentucky electorate, who last year rejected an amendment that would have made it harder to challenge abortion restrictions.
He defeated Brandon Pressley, a Democrat and one of the state’s three public service commissioners (not to mention a second cousin of the rock and roll legend Elvis). Pressley campaigned in part on expanding Medicaid in the state, which Reeves has refused to do.
State Supreme Court races, as well as the fight over abortion policy, has been paying more attention to by abortion rights advocates.
This year, in Pennsylvania, Democrat Dan McCaffery won an open seat on the state Supreme Court after Planned Parenthood and the American Civil Liberties Union invested in digital ads backing McCaffery over Republican Carolyn Carluccio. Groups supportive of abortion rights want to shore up access in the state because the governor is a democrat.
The Philadelphians Make What Happen: 5 Takeaway Learned From Sarah Pressley’s Campaign for the 2023 Democratic Electoral Race
The 2020 presidential race is already being focused on by the Democrats, who are looking at the Tuesday’s elections as a possible litmus test on the national mood.
“Tonight, Americans once again voted to protect their fundamental freedoms — and democracy won,” President Biden wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
The state’s Republican governor and GOP-led Congress opposed the amendment, and had tried unsuccessfully to change the state constitution to require a 60% threshold to pass constitutional amendments, as opposed to a simple majority.
It was believed that the race would be competitive, but it turned out that it wasn’t as competitive as people had thought.
Pressley campaigned in all 82 counties and focused especially on engaging Black voters (which Reeve’s Democratic opponent in 2019 had been criticized for not doing).
The chair of the Delaware River Port Authority is a man who has served as a state representative and majority leader of the Philadelphia City Council.
WHYY reported that after she won her party’s primary, with a tough-on-crime agenda, and the support of labor and the city’s Democratic establishment, her win was expected.
She plans to hire 300 new police officers, target low-level crimes and summon the National Guard to help in her response to the opiate crisis. She has ideas on ways to reduce the city’s wage taxes.
Parker, who has spoken of being born to a single teenage mother and raised by her grandparents on welfare and food subsidies, told her supporters she would use her personal, academic, and professional experience to “make Philadelphia the safest, the greenest big city in the nation with economic opportunity for all.”
Source: Democrats — and abortion rights — dominated the 2023 elections. Here are 5 takeaways
The First Person of Color: The Rhode Island Rep. David Cicilline’s During his 2024 Term in charge of the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs
There is a person who is the first Black person to represent the state of Rhode Island in Congress.
Amo is currently serving the remainder of David Cicilline’s term. Amo will be up for reelection again in 2024.
The son of two immigrants from West Africa, the 35-year-old has been working in the White House for seven years, most recently as a deputy director of the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs.
Among other issues, Amo has pledged to work to legalize abortion rights nationwide, fight for federal legislation to combat climate change, and promote stronger gun control legislation, the Associated Press reported.
“Undoubtedly, I’m humbled by the real momentous opportunity to serve as the first person of color,” Amo told the AP. “But I didn’t run to make history.”
Kentucky Democrat Andy Beshear has won re-election as governor after facing a challenge from the state’s Republican Attorney General, Daniel Cameron, who opposed abortion rights and has defended Kentucky’s strict abortion laws in court. Notably, this is the second general election in a row that the issue of abortion rights appeared to be a winning issue.