From the reversal of Roe v. Wade to the historic removal of the Speaker of the House, it is fair to say that right now Americans are living through an unprecedented and unpredictable time in politics. It was unclear whether or not these recent events would have an impact on the elections this year, but there were still substantial and unexpected outcomes. Despite increased polarization and fragmentation, the election results did show some sense of unity. Specifically, how democratic ideals, like the right to bodily autonomy and reproductive choice drove voters to the polls. The most exciting results from the election are the victories Democrats had throughout the country. In this article, I’ll be focusing on three major democratic victories and how they are related to next year’s presidential election.
Reproductive AMENDMENT in ohio
Voters in Ohio approved a constitutional amendment that guarantees the right to an abortion and other reproductive healthcare. To give some context into the political environment in Ohio, the state voted red in the 2020 election. According to the Ohio Capital Journal, in 2022 there was a strict six-week abortion ban with no exceptions for rape and incest was temporarily put into place. While based on polling there was majority support for the new amendment, some groups invested millions of dollars into running counter ads for this issue, pleading for voters to vote no. In the end, both liberal and conservative districts voted to approve the amendment, including some who voted for Trump in the 2020 national election. In a statement following the approval of the amendment President Biden said, “Tonight, Americans once again voted to protect their fundamental freedoms – and democracy won.” It is inspiring to see voters demand change, and we can only hope that more states follow in Ohio’s footsteps.
reelected governor in Kentucky
The governor of Kentucky was reelected. Andy Beshear, a Democrat, was reelected for his second term. This is interesting because Kentucky is a very deep-red, rural, and Republican state. I was surprised to know they had a Democrat governor and even more surprised when I learned he was reelected. According to Spectrum News 1, Beshear has called Kentucky’s current trigger laws concerning abortion wrong and ran on changing those laws. To win, the governor needed support from both Republicans and Democrats. His victory is important especially because today there is increasing political polarization. Political polarization is the idea that both sides will become more and more extreme and move away from moderate ideas. The election of a more moderate Democrat begins to go against this phenomenon as it brings more voters back to the center. Beshear’s reelection shows bipartisanship, open-mindedness, and compromise, values that many people would agree we need more of in America today.
unified state legislature in virginia
Democrats now have majority control in the Virginia House and State Senate. The Republican governor was counting on his party to sweep both the House and Senate; however, that was not the outcome. This new era of majority control will hopefully allow for more reproductive rights and gun control legislation to be passed through both chambers. You may be wondering about the national implications of this, many analysts and news outlets place lots of importance on the Virginia elections. According to The New York Times, this year specifically was a big election to watch this year because all 140 seats in the state legislature were being voted on. Virginia has been increasingly more liberal, but it is still somewhat of a swing state, so analysts often use the results of the Virginia state elections as a predictor for national elections. No one can say now if this is an accurate prediction of which party will be more popular come next November, we will have to wait and see.
Concluding Thoughts
Overall, it is going to be interesting how the support of democratic ideals, specifically the right to abortion plays a part in next year’s national election. It is important to note that despite Democrats winning elections and having the support of the party’s platform, approval rates of Biden are down, specifically in the swing states. It is clear that the Democrats will run on abortion rights next year. However, the question remains if that is enough to swing Republican voters in a national election. It is important to stay up to date and follow these issues in the coming months, especially as we get into the primary election season where these topics will be center stage. Lastly, If you would like to know more information about reproduction rights on a state-by-state basis, you can click here to learn more about the topic.