Virginia – did the damn thing. The American people have spoken and Governor Youngkin is out.
“It’s official: there will be absolutely no abortion ban legislation sent to Glenn Youngkin’s desk for the duration of his term in office, period, as we have thwarted MAGA Republicans’ attempt to take total control of our government and our bodies,” Virginia Senate Democratic Caucus Chair Mamie Locke said in a statement referencing Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan. (Source AP News Politics). With the likes of leading voting rights advocates sounding the alarm, former President Obama along with his wife’s initiative When We All Vote, for one, the demand for change is clear on election day. When more people pay attention, more people vote, and when more people vote, the United States starts to reflect its vastly changing social consciousness. Men in Viriginia voted yesterday to keep the right to abortion. Imagine that. It also happened over in Ohio.
Ohio became the seventh state where voters decided to protect abortion access after the landmark ruling and was the only state to consider a statewide abortion rights question this year.
Abortion access is expected to play a central role in the 2024 elections and with the victory in Ohio, Democratic strategist can use the winning results to create a wider plan to win electoral votes. President Biden is running for re-election. There are also independent candidates, like Cornell West, who have been currently sounding the alarm for peace as the war escalates across the Gaza Strip. Yesterday, the U.S. Military via the Pentagon reported that a U.S. Navy nuclear submarine was being dispatched to the Middle East.
Ohio had another progressive-era measure on their ballot, should the state legalize marijuana. The voters said yeah.
Black Wins Are Always Historic
Amo, 35, said he sees himself as part of a long line of advocates who came before him, whether they were people of color or those fighting for the rights of woman or the working class. The Rhode Island congressman is the first Black American to be elected to Congress in the state. Weird right? American politics in recent years have been changing to meet the demographic challenges as seen in the 2020 United States Census. They are less white Americans in political offices and it makes sense. As the nation continues to change, the millennial generation closing in on the 40 year old threshold, and the appearance of Generation Z’s anti-the way it used to be mentality, a lot more “firsts” are sure to pop up across the country. Younger Americans are more politically and socially active than generations of the past. It has always been a “young person’s game” but the young was usually white and male.
“For Rhode Island, it’s been interesting to have an immigrant story that everyone can relate to,” he said. (Source AP News)
Kentucky re-elected Democratic Governor Andy Beshear beating Daniel Cameron, the AG rose to national prominence after the no-knock warrant death of Breonna Taylor
Cameron, who is Black, has the support of one of the arguably reddest states in American politics. Mitch McConnell is who represents them in Congress for instance. McConnell, whose health has recently been called into question as he has publicly frozen mid-thought on the house floor. The outcome gives divided government another stamp of voter approval in Kentucky, as Republicans hold supermajorities in both chambers of the legislature and continue to dominate the state’s congressional delegation, including both U.S. Senate seats. Beshear has wrangled with GOP lawmakers over a series of policy issues during his tenure. There is a long way to go in Kentucky but yesterday’s victory shows how slow and steady progress is rewarded by the voters on election day.
