In Ohio, Kentucky and Virginia, Tuesday was a good night for abortion rights | Anderson

R. Bruce Anderson
·3 min read
Voters react to the passage of Ohio Issue 1, a ballot measure to amend the state constitution and establish a right to abortion Tuesday in Cincinnati.
Voters react to the passage of Ohio Issue 1, a ballot measure to amend the state constitution and establish a right to abortion Tuesday in Cincinnati.

Election day in an off/off year is in many ways like an early Christmas for those in the political observer’s seat. Anticipation, frustration with the pace of the count-down hours, and almost equal bits of great joy and disappointment at the end of the day.

I had a long Faculty Senate meeting prior to Tuesday’s election and thought it would just about drag on long enough for me to go home, make dinner and flip on the results. But the folks running the show were efficient, and we got out just early enough that when I clicked on the New York Times, it was still zeroes across the board.

I’d picked Ohio as my “follow closely” state. They had two major citizen initiatives on the ballot. My favorites: non-partisan, grassroots politics at its finest – the people’s voice. One was on preserving abortion rights by adding them to the state constitution, the other on marijuana legalization (taxing and regulating it like booze).  These two barnburners were likely to be or become issues soon for Florida voters as well. Ohio is currently a deep-red state (as is Florida) and though there are demographic differences between them, it made both issues worth watching from a Florida point of view.

The zeroes persisted. I switched streams.

“Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part 1” is a new shot from an old franchise – lots of folks jumping out of airplanes, evil strategos set upon world destruction or domination), and a few good but motley types trying to take them down.

The zeroes vanished – I took a quick look over at Kentucky, where Democratic incumbent Gov. Andy Beshear was battling Daniel Cameron, a rising GOP star, and held a slight lead. Cameron had run as an anti-abortion candidate. In Ohio, the abortion rights amendment and the legalization of pot in Ohio were both ahead.

On screen 2, Ethan Hunt crashed through the window of a train and took out a minor though ugly villain.

The Democrat won in Kentucky; Ohio’s abortion rights initiative is leading big, and the marijuana legalization effort is hanging on. Meanwhile, Ethan Hunt smacks some evildoer on top of a train… all duck under for the overhanging tunnel. Train goes off a bridge … crash and burn.

R. Bruce Anderson
R. Bruce Anderson

Marijuana legalization passes and abortion rights scores a big win in Ohio. As I wrote after the Kansas election this past summer, this is not a “Democratic win.”  And it would not be a Democratic win in Florida, either – but it is solid evidence that some policy areas are simply not defined by party.

Citizen initiatives, typically, are exactly that – initiatives by citizens to either take on an issue the legislature is afraid to take on or to overturn legislation with which the citizens do not agree.

News: citizens are voters.

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While the abortion-rights leadership sees this as the critical issue for the 2024 election, they are only right as long as the opposition keeps them in play. But if the GOP can’t find a way free of the issue – and the culture wars, generally – they’ll be right as rain.

As I headed for sleep, the majorities in Virginia’s legislature were still not settled: Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a sharp and dapper fellow, has said that he will make a decision on whether to run for the presidency later in the week – a decision that may be much easier to make if the legislature flips GOP.

But during the campaign of 2023, Youngkin proudly spoke about passing a strict ban on abortions. Wednesday morning, the results were in: the GOP failed to flip the Senate… and lost the House of Delegates. The Democrats now control all but the lame-duck governor’s office in Virginia, and Youngkin’s decision should be easy.

In other news, Ethan Hunt saves the day, but only for the moment: “Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning, Part 2”  will be out soon. By November 2024?

Bruce Anderson is the Dr. Sarah D. and L. Kirk McKay, Jr. endowed chair in American History, Government, and Civics and Miller distinguished professor of political science. He is also a columnist for the Lakeland Ledger and political consultant and on-air commentator for WLKF Radio.

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Abortion rights supporters had a good night Tuesday | Bruce Anderson