National Democrats cheer Ohio’s abortion vote
President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are cheering Ohio’s vote to ensure access to abortion and other forms of reproductive health care.
Biden said in a statement Tuesday that “democracy won” in Ohio. The Democratic president says the state’s voters rejected “attempts by MAGA Republican elected officials to impose extreme abortion bans that put the health and lives of women in jeopardy.”
Harris used the win in Ohio to call for Congress to pass a bill restoring the federal abortion protections that were lost after the reversal of Roe v. Wade.
She said in a statement, “When they do, President Biden will sign it into law.”
Beshear says his win shows voters’ disdain for ‘anger politics’
Democratic Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear says his reelection victory “sends a loud, clear message” that there should be an end to “anger politics.”
Beshear said in his victory remarks on Tuesday that Kentucky voters had made “a choice not to move to the right or to the left but to move forward for every single family.”
Beshear defeated Republican challenger Daniel Cameron, who had been endorsed by former President Donald Trump. Beshear said he had been up against a number of GOP-funded, third-party groups that were running ads “full of hate and division.”
“And you know what?” Beshear asked. “We beat ’em all at the same time.”
Ohio becomes 7th state to protect abortion rights in post-Roe era
With Tuesday’s vote to enshrine abortion rights into its state constitution, Ohio is the seventh state where voters have protected abortion access since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year.
Voters in both Democratic and Republican states — California, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Montana and Vermont — have either affirmed abortion access or turned back attempts to undermine it.
Ohio was the only state to consider a statewide abortion rights question this year, and some view its decision as a signal of how voters nationwide will be feeling about the issue ahead of the 2024 presidential race.
All in the (Beshear) family
It’s officially a two-term trend for the Beshear family.
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear has joined his father, Steve Beshear, as a twice-elected top Democratic leader of the state.
The younger Beshear won his second term Tuesday by defeating Republican Attorney General Daniel Cameron. With it, Andy Beshear is also positioning himself to join a growing list of Democratic governors flagged as potential contenders for higher office nationally.
By the end of Andy Beshear’s second four-year term, a Beshear will have presided in the Kentucky governor’s office for 16 of the last 20 years. Steve Beshear served from 2007 to 2015.
Amo makes history as Rhode Island’s first Black congressman
Democrat Gabe Amo says that he’s “humbled” to be elected Rhode Island’s first Black representative to Congress but that he “didn’t run to make history.”
Amo told The Associated Press shortly after his win over Republican Gerry Leonard on Tuesday that he sees himself as part of a long line of advocates, whether they were people of color or fighting for the rights of woman or working people.
The former White House aide succeeds former Democratic Rep. David Cicilline, who stepped down this summer to become president and CEO of the Rhode Island Foundation.
The son of Ghanaian and Liberian immigrants, Amo emerged victorious from a crowded Democratic field in the September primary, claiming more than 32% of the vote.
Voting times at 4 precincts in Mississippi county extended again
A judge in Mississippi’s largest county has extended voting times to 10 p.m. EST at four voting precincts after they experienced ballot shortages and long lines.
The order from a special judge in Hinds County came after a nonpartisan group, Mississippi Votes, filed a petition to extend voting in the four precincts in some Jackson suburbs.
The four precincts where voting will be allowed until 10 p.m. EST are Byram City Hall, a United Methodist church in Raymond, and Wildwood Baptist Church and Northside Baptist Church, both in Clinton.
A different judge already had extended voting throughout the county until 9 p.m. EST in response to the ballot shortages.
Bomb threat keeps 2 Pennsylvania precincts open for extra hour
Two precincts in a Philadelphia suburb will remain open an extra hour after a bomb threat forced the evacuation of a polling place.
A Delaware County spokesperson says the county solicitor sought and won the extension from a judge after a threat forced the evacuation of Radnor High School and polling places for two precincts to move to Radnor Elementary in Wayne. Officials say police are investigating the threat.