Democrats light up and the Republican shine dims. In Ohio, Donald Trump won in 2020 by more than eight points, but this Tuesday of elections in the United States, and with one year left until the presidential elections, abortion demonstrated once again that it is a decisive electoral weapon, especially to inject energy to progressives and independents and, apparently, to attract even moderate Republicans.
Its value as an electoral weapon was more than clear in Ohio. Despite being a politically and socially conservative territory, its citizens voted overwhelmingly in favor of the measure called “number one”, which enshrines the right to abortion in the constitution of their state. There was a difference of eleven points and more than 400,000 votes.
Pro-life groups invested large sums of money to achieve the rejection of that measure, while the Republicans still cannot find the key to maintain a radical position regarding abortion and stop the erosion at the polls due to the wave in favor of the interruption of the pregnancy.
What happened in Ohio means continuing a series of victories for pro-abortion groups since 18 months ago the Supreme Court overturned the ruling (Roe v. Wade) that allowed the termination of pregnancy at the national level. Since then, numerous states have passed laws that in practice limit abortion so much that it is almost impossible to apply and, in parallel, the Democrats have won on all seven occasions, including last night, in which this issue has reached the polls. .
It was also decisive for the great result that the progressives achieved in the 2022 midterm elections when a conservative tsunami had been announced in the federal Congress and in other instances of power. It never happened even though President Joe Biden's popularity rating was significantly down.
One thing is the enthusiasm of the polls, which are not at all favorable for Biden in the face of 2024, and another is the reality of the voters. Although the president is unpopular, this did not prevent Democrat Andy Beshear from winning the governorship again in a state as conservative as Kentucky, where Trump led Biden by 26 points. And, in addition, Beshear was competing with Daniel Cameron, the state attorney general who tried to take the campaign to the national field to link the Democrat with the president's supposed bad image.
There was no yes or no vote on abortion, but this issue was a key element in Beshear's career, who has used the near-ban on abortion in his state, after the Supreme Court's decision, to encourage voters. Although he won, he has a difficult time changing this legislation since the legislative chambers are under conservative control and that majority has already frustrated his attempt to veto this restrictive regulation.
An observation was made among political commentators. Four years ago Beshear unexpectedly won and then Biden won. Is it a premonition of 2024? They asked themselves.
There was another case, another nail. Abortion was the main asset played by the governor of Virginia, Republican Glenn Youngkin. so that the conservatives prevailed in both legislative chambers. As he claimed, he insisted that this control would facilitate his plan to impose a maximum restriction of fifteen weeks for the termination of pregnancy. He repeated this argument in all the forums, as a rallying point. But, again, in another celebration for progressives, the shot backfired. Democrats maintained their majority in the Senate, and Republicans were even projected to lose control in the House of Representatives.
“Tonight, Americans voted again to protect their fundamental freedoms and democracy has won. In Ohio, voters protected the right to reproductive health in their state constitution,” Biden said in a statement as soon as the result was known.
“Ohio citizens and voters across the country reject MAGA Republicans' (Trumpist) attempts to ban abortion, put women's health and lives in danger, force them to travel hundreds of miles to receive health care and criminalize doctors and nurses for providing the care their patients need. That extreme and radical agenda is out of tune with the vast majority of Americans. “My administration will continue to protect access to reproductive health care and ask Congress to restore the federal protection law for all,” Biden stressed.
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The vote on abortion in Ohio, one of the most restrictive states on this issue, was the one that generated the most attention in this electoral year prior to the 2024 presidential elections. This victory, in such a conservative state, will promote similar measures next year in other conservative or hinge states such as Arizona, South Dakota, Missouri and Florida. This means that abortion will be a nuclear element in the battle for the White House, especially when Republican candidates have surrendered to the power of Christian nationalism.
In another social cause, Ohio passed issue number two. Citizens, especially young and progressive ones, voted in favor of legalizing recreational marijuana. In this way it becomes the 24th state that facilitates this consumption.
