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      Election 2023: How Abortion Lifted Democrats, and More Key Takeaways

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      The political potency of abortion rights proved more powerful than the drag of President Biden’s approval ratings in Tuesday’s off-year elections, as Ohioans enshrined a right to abortion in their state’s constitution, and Democrats took control of both chambers of the Virginia General Assembly while holding on to Kentucky’s governorship.The night’s results showed the durability of Democrats’ political momentum since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and ended the constitutional right to an abortion in 2022. It may also, at least temporarily, stem the latest round of Democratic fretting from a series of polls demonstrating Mr. Biden’s political weakness.After a strong midterm showing last year, a blowout victory in the Wisconsin Supreme Court race in April and a series of special election wins, Democrats head into Mr. Biden’s re-election contest with the wind at their backs. The question for the party is how they can translate that momentum to Mr. Biden, who remains unpopular while others running on his agenda have prevailed.Here are key takeaways from Tuesday:There’s nothing like abortion to aid Democrats.Democratic officials have been saying for months that the fight for abortion rights has become the issue that best motivates Democrats to vote, and is also the issue that persuades the most Republicans to vote for Democrats.On Tuesday, they found new evidence to bolster their case in victories by Gov. Andy Beshear of Kentucky, who criticized his opponent’s defense of the state’s near-total ban; legislative candidates in Virginia who opposed the 15-week abortion ban proposed by the Republican governor, Glenn Youngkin; and, above all, the Ohio referendum establishing a right to abortion access. A Pennsylvania Supreme Court candidate who ran on abortion rights, Daniel McCaffery, also won, giving Democrats a 5-2 majority.Where Trump Counties in Ohio Voted to Support Abortion RightsOhio’s referendum drew support from both liberal and conservative areas of the state, and polled well ahead of President Biden’s results three years ago.Abortion is now so powerful as a Democratic issue that Everytown, the gun control organization founded and funded by Michael Bloomberg, used its TV ads in Virginia to promote abortion rights before it discussed gun violence.The anti-abortion Democrat who ran for governor of Mississippi, Brandon Presley, underperformed expectations.It’s a sign that no matter how weak Mr. Biden’s standing is, the political environment and the issues terrain are still strong for Democrats running on abortion access and against Republicans who defend bans.The last six Kentucky governor’s elections have been won by the same party that won the presidential election the following year. The president may not be able to do what Mr. Beshear managed — talking up Biden policies without ever mentioning the president’s name — but he now has examples of what a winning road map could look like for 2024.In Virginia, a Republican rising star faces an eclipse.Governor Youngkin had hoped a strong night for his party would greatly raise his stature as the Republican who turned an increasingly blue state back to red. That would at the very least include him in the conversation for the Republican presidential nomination in 2028, if not 2024.Democratic victories in the Virginia legislature undercut Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s agenda, which was focused on abortion.Carlos Bernate for The New York TimesBut Mr. Youngkin’s pledge to enact what he called a moderate abortion law — a ban on abortions after 15 weeks with exceptions for rape, incest and to save the life of an endangered mother — gave Democrats an effective counter as he sought full control of state government.The Democratic argument won the day, at least in part. The party seized the majority in the House of Delegates, kept control of the State Senate and definitely spoiled Mr. Youngkin’s night. The results offered nervous national Democrats still more evidence of abortion’s power as a motivator for their voters while upending the term-limited Mr. Youngkin’s plans for his final two years in office, and possibly beyond.A Democrat can win in deep-red Kentucky, if his name is Andy Beshear.Being the most popular governor in the country turns out to be a good thing if you want to get re-elected.Mr. Beshear spent his first term and his re-election campaign hyperfocused on local issues like teacher salaries, new road projects, guiding the state through the pandemic and natural disasters and, since last summer’s Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade, opposing his state’s total ban on abortion.Gov. Andy Beshear focused on local issues in Kentucky, and avoided mentioning President Biden by name.Jon Cherry for The New York TimesThat made him politically bulletproof when his Republican challenger, Attorney General Daniel Cameron, who was endorsed by former President Donald J. Trump, sought to nationalize the campaign and juice G.O.P. turnout by tying Mr. Beshear to Mr. Biden and attacking him on crime and L.G.B.T.Q. issues. (Mr. Beshear vetoed new restrictions aimed at transgender young people, though G.O.P. lawmakers voted to override him.)It’s not as if Republican voters stayed home; all the other Republicans running for statewide office won with at least 57 percent of the vote. Mr. Beshear just got enough of them to back him for governor. A Democrat who can win Republican voters without making compromises on issues important to liberal voters is someone the rest of the party will want to emulate in red states and districts across the country.Attacks on transgender rights didn’t work.As abortion access has become the top issue motivating Democrats, and with same-sex marriage broadly accepted in America, Republicans casting about for an issue to motivate social conservatives landed on restricting rights for transgender people. On Tuesday, that didn’t work.In Kentucky, Mr. Cameron and his Republican allies spent more than $5 million on television ads attacking L.G.B.T.Q. rights and Mr. Beshear for his defense of them, according to AdImpact, a firm that tracks political advertising. Gov. Tate Reeves in Mississippi spent $1.2 million on anti-L.G.B.T.Q. ads, while Republicans running for legislative seats in Virginia spent $527,000 worth of TV time on the issue.Daniel Cameron and his Republican allies spent more than $5 million on television ads attacking L.G.B.T.Q. rights — a strategy that did not pay off in Tuesday’s election.Michael Swensen/Getty ImagesIndeed, in Virginia, Danica Roem, a member of the House of Delegates, will become the South’s first transgender state senator after defeating a former Fairfax County police detective who supported barring transgender athletes from competing in high school sports.In Ohio, voters back both abortion and weed.Ohioans once again showed the popularity of abortion rights, even in reliably Republican states, when they easily approved a constitutional amendment establishing the right to an abortion.The vote in Ohio could be a harbinger for the coming presidential election season, when proponents and opponents of abortion rights are trying to put the issue before voters in the critical battleground states of Florida, Nevada, Arizona and Pennsylvania.Abortion rights groups entered Tuesday on a winning streak with such ballot measures since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year. And ultimately, Ohio voters did as voters before them had done — electing to preserve the right to an abortion in their state.Voters at a high school in Columbus, Ohio. Ohioans legalized recreational marijuana.Maddie McGarvey for The New York TimesAnd with a margin that was almost identical to the abortion vote, Ohioans also legalized recreational marijuana use. That will make Ohio the 24th state to do so.Where abortion wasn’t an issue, a Republican won easily.Mississippi’s governor’s race was the exception to this off-year election’s rule on abortion: The incumbent governor, Mr. Reeves, and his Democratic challenger, Mr. Presley, ran as staunch opponents of abortion rights.And in that race, the Democrat lost.Mr. Presley hoped to make the Mississippi race close by tying the incumbent to a public corruption scandal that saw the misspending of $94 million in federal funds intended for Mississippi’s poor on projects like a college volleyball facility pushed by the retired superstar quarterback Brett Favre. He also pressed for the expansion of Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act to save Mississippi’s collapsing rural hospitals.Gov. Tate Reeves won his re-election campaign easily Tuesday night in Mississippi.Emily Kask for The New York TimesBut in Mississippi, Mr. Reeves had three advantages that proved impenetrable: incumbency, the “R” next to his name on the ballot, and the endorsement of Mr. Trump, who won the state in 2020 by nearly 17 percentage points.In Kentucky races beneath the marquee governor’s contest, Democrats also did not run on abortion, and they, like Mr. Presley, lost.Rhode Island sends a Biden aide to the House.Rhode Island is hardly a swing state, but still, the heavily Democratic enclave’s election of Gabe Amo to one of its two House seats most likely brought a smile to Mr. Biden’s face. Mr. Amo was a deputy director of the White House office of intergovernmental affairs and as such, becomes the first Biden White House aide to rise to Congress.The son of African immigrants, Mr. Amo will also be the first Black representative from the Ocean State.Gabe Amo became the first Black person to represent Rhode Island in the U.S. Congress, according to The Associated Press.Kris Craig/Providence Journal, via Associated PressWhite House officials said the president congratulated his former aide on his victory. The special election fills the seat vacated by David Cicilline, a Democrat who left the seat to run a nonprofit. More

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      Abortion rights and historic wins: key takeaways from the US’s off-year elections

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      Voters across the US went to the polls on Tuesday for an array of key races that may set the tone for the general election next year.The night delivered some historic wins and some surprise outcomes. Here’s a roundup of the notable races that have been call so far.Virginia voters stave off Republican agendaIn Virginia, where all 140 state legislative seats were up for election, Democrats retained their majority in the state senate, crushing Republican lawmakers’ hopes of gaining control of the legislature.In a surprising victory, Democrats also flipped the house of delegates, the lower chamber of the state house. That means they will be able to effectively block the Republican governor Glenn Youngkin’s agenda, which includes a ban on abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy with exceptions for rape, incest and medical emergencies.Gaining control of both chambers would have allowed Republicans to swiftly move ahead with conservative policy priorities. Though not all of the races have been called, Democrats are already celebrating in what was seen as a bellwether for 2024.A pro-choice victory in OhioIn the nation’s only race where abortion was on the ballot, Ohio voters overwhelming decided to enshrine abortion protections in their state constitution.The vote to approve “Issue 1” passed with nearly 60% of the vote on Tuesday after months of campaigning that saw millions of dollars pour in from both sides.As Carter Sherman, reporting for the Guardian in Akron, Ohio, writes: “Abortion access has been embattled in Ohio since the US supreme court overturned Roe v Wade last year, sending the issue of abortion back to the states and leading 16 states to ban nearly all abortions. Ohio has a six-week abortion ban on the books, which briefly took effect until a court paused it. Tuesday’s results should prevent it from being reinstated.Democrat holds on to Kentucky governorshipFollowing a high-profile race that pitted two former law firm colleagues against each other, the Democratic incumbent, Andy Beshear, will retain his gubernatorial seat in the largely conservative state after Kentucky voters chose him over the Republican Daniel Cameron.Cameron, the state’s first Black attorney general, would have been the nation’s first Black republican governor of he were elected. During his campaign for the governor’s seat, Cameron faced criticism from the family of Breonna Taylor, who were angered at his handling of the the investigation into her killing.In Mississippi, a Republican governor keeps his jobBrandon Presley, a Democrat and relation of Elvis Presley, lost his race for governor, conceding to the incumbent Tate Reeves on Tuesday night. Reeves avoided what would have been a remarkable upset, calling his victory “sweet”, and congratulated Presley for “running hard all the way through”.It was a hard-fought contest that saw the candidates exchange verbal blows, writes the Guardian’s Adria Walker in Mississippi, “with Reeves alleging that Presley had been bought by out-of-state, liberal political interest groups. Presley hammered Reeves on his and his family’s alleged involvement in the state’s ongoing corruption scandal.”Election day was disrupted when polling places in the state’s largest county ran out of ballots and voters endured long lines in a key Democratic stronghold.Philly gets its first female mayorIn Philadelphia, voters elected Cherelle Parker as the 100th mayor, and first woman to lead the city. Parker beat out her Democratic opponents and was heavily favored over the Republican candidate David Oh. Parker ran as a moderate in Democratic stronghold where issues like crime, gun violence and blight are consistently top of mind. Parker has been involved in politics since she was a teenager and was a Pennsylvania state representative from 2005 to 2016 and a Philadelphia city council member from 2016 to 2022.Rhode Islanders are sending their first Black representative to CongressThe Democrat Gabe Amo, 35, defeated the Republican Gerry Leonard to win Rhode Island’s first congressional district. Amo, who grew up in Pawtucket as the son of Ghanaian and Liberian immigrants, claimed more than 32% of the vote and will fill the seat of fellow Democrat David Cicilline, who stepped down this summer to become president and CEO of the Rhode Island Foundation.From the ‘Central Park Five’ to New York City councilYusef Salaam won a seat on the New York City council, completing a stunning reversal of fortune decades after he was wrongly imprisoned in an infamous rape case. Salaam, a Democrat, will represent a central Harlem district on the city council, having run unopposed for the seat in one of many local elections held across New York state.The victory comes more than two decades after DNA evidence was used to overturn the convictions of Salaam and four other Black and Latino men in the 1989 rape and beating of a white jogger in Central Park. Salaam was arrested at age 15 and imprisoned for almost seven years. The group became known as the “Central Park Five”.“For me, this means that we can really become our ancestors’ wildest dreams,” Salaam said in an interview with the AP before the election.A loss for an Uvalde mother turned campaignerKim Mata-Rubio, the mother of one the 19 children killed at Robb elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, has lost her mayoral bid. After her 10-year-old daughter was killed in May 2022, Mata-Rubio became an outspoken gun violence prevention advocate.She announced her bid for mayor of Uvalde in June and ran on the promise of making the city “a place where every citizen feels heard, where we honor our past while building a brighter future, and where tragedies like the one my family experienced catalyze positive change for all”, according to her campaign website.Ohioans vote to legalize recreational marijuanaIn another rebuke to the Republican leadership, Ohio voters have made the state the 24th in the nation to legalize marijuana for recreational use. The legislation’s approval comes after Republican officials, including Governor Mike DeWine, publicly denounced the legalization over fears it would negatively affect workplace and road safety.Under the new law, people who are at least 21 years old are allowed to buy marijuana and possess up to two and a half ounces of it. “Marijuana is no longer a controversial issue,” said Tom Haren, a spokesman for the Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol, which backed the Ohio proposal. More

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      Democrats gain control of Virginia state legislature in blow to Republican plans

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      Democrats have secured full control of the Virginia state legislature, winning a majority in the house of delegates and depriving the Republican governor Glenn Youngkin of the opportunity to enact a 15-week abortion ban.Democrats maintained their majority in the state senate and flipped control of the house of delegates, where Republicans previously held a narrow advantage. Democrats’ victories quashed Youngkin’s hopes of securing a Republican-controlled legislature that would be able to advance his policy agenda, casting doubt upon his prospects as a potential presidential candidate.“Governor Youngkin and Virginia Republicans did everything they could to take total control of state government, but the people of the Commonwealth rejected them,” Susan Swecker, chair of the Democratic party of Virginia, said in a statement. “Virginians won’t go backwards. Instead of extremism and culture wars, people voted for common sense leadership and problem solvers.”As one of the only states holding off-year elections, the Virginia results could serve as a bellwether for the presidential race next year. Democrats also secured key victories on Tuesday in Kentucky, where incumbent governor Andy Beshear won re-election, and Ohio, where voters approved a measure to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution.Virginia Democrats’ success will spell doom for Youngkin’s proposed 15-week “limit” on abortion, which would ban the procedure after 15 weeks with exceptions for rape, incest and medical emergencies. Democratic legislators in Virginia have previously used their senate majority to block bills restricting abortion access and they had promised to do so again if they maintained control of the chamber.The possibility of curtailing access to abortion had become a galvanizing issue in Virginia, which is now the last remaining state in the US South without severe restrictions on the procedure. Virginia Democrats correctly predicted that voters’ continued displeasure with the reversal of Roe v Wade would help them flip control of the house of delegates.“[Republicans] called their plan to ban abortion in Virginia a plan to keep abortion legal in the state and claimed it was just a ‘limit’,” Mini Timmaraju, president and CEO of Reproductive Freedom for All, said in a statement. “Well, tonight, Virginians showed the GOP and Glenn Youngkin exactly what voters have to say about it: We don’t want abortion bans, and we don’t want leaders who do.”The Virginia results may serve as an indication of where swing voters in battleground states stand ahead of the 2024 presidential election. Virginia has been trending toward Democrats in recent years, as Joe Biden carried the state by 10 points in 2020. But Youngkin’s victory in 2021 proved Virginia remains a battleground state, and Republicans had hoped the governor’s success would deliver them a legislative trifecta in Richmond, but that failed to materialize.The Biden campaign reveled in Democrats’ wins on Tuesday, pointing to them as evidence that the president would similarly succeed when he is on the ballot again next year.“Voters across the political spectrum once again showed up and voted for our agenda and rejected the dangerous Maga extremism that has come to define today’s Republican Party at every level,” said Julie Chavez Rodriguez, Biden’s campaign manager. “That same choice will be before voters again next November and we are confident the American people will send President Biden and Vice President Harris back to the White House to keep working for them.”Republicans’ failure to take full control of the legislature may throw cold water on speculation over Youngkin’s national ambitions, as the governor had been named as a potential presidential candidate for 2024. As polls closed on Tuesday, Youngkin deflected questions over his future plans.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotion“I’ve been asked this so much, so many times over the course of the last year,” Youngkin told CNN. “I’m humbled by it. I’m focused on Virginia; we’ve got a lot of work to do.”With Democrats in control of the state senate and able to block much of Youngkin’s agenda, it will be much harder for the governor to make a pitch for the White House. Given that Virginia governors are limited to serving a single term, Democrats’ victories on Tuesday guarantee that Youngkin will never have the opportunity to govern with a Republican-controlled legislature.Youngkin’s critics celebrated his party’s defeats, suggesting the disappointing performance would bring an end to any presidential aspirations.Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics, joked on X, “CLEARANCE SALE: all ‘Youngkin for President 2024’ merchandise.” More

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      Progressive Rashida Tlaib says ‘we cannot lose our humanity’ as House moves toward censure for Israel comments – US politics live

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      In remarks on the House floor minutes after Democrats failed to block an effort to censure her for remarks her detractors say disparaged Israel, progressive Rashida Tlaib defended her criticism of the country and urged lawmakers to join in calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.“I will not be silenced and I will not let you distort my words,” Tlaib said. “No government is beyond criticism. The idea that criticizing the government of Israel is antisemitic sets a very dangerous precedent, and it’s been used to silence diverse voices speaking up for human rights across our nation.”Tlaib, who was first elected in 2018 and is a prominent member of “The Squad” of progressive female lawmakers, grew emotional as she said, “I can’t believe I have to say this, but Palestinian people are not disposable.”She continued by saying she was against attacks on both Israeli and Palestinian civilians alike:
      The cries of the Palestinian and Israeli children sound no different to me. What I don’t understand is why the cries of Palestinians sound different to you all. We cannot lose our shared humanity, Mr. Chair. I hear the voices of advocates in Israel and Palestine across America and around the world for peace.
      I’m inspired by … the courageous survivors in Israel who have lost loved ones, yet are calling for a ceasefire and the end to violence. I am grateful to the people in the streets for the peace movement with countless Jewish Americans across the country standing up and lovingly saying ‘not in our name’.
      We will continue to call for a ceasefire, Mr. Chair, for the immediate delivery of critical humanitarian aid to Gaza, for the release of all hostages and those arbitrarily detained and for every American to come home. We will continue to work for real, lasting peace that uphold human rights and dignity of all people and centers … peaceful coexistence between Israelis and Palestinians and censures no one – no one – and ensures that no person, no child has to suffer or live in fear of violence.
      The House’s Democratic minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries, has released a statement marking a month since Hamas’s deadly attack on Israel that also weighs in on the upcoming vote to censure Rashida Tlaib.Tlaib is the sole Palestinian American in the House, and has been outspoken against Israel’s retaliatory invasion of the Gaza Strip. Republicans have moved to censure Tlaib for comments they say promote the destruction of Israel, and which have also attracted criticism from some Democrats.Jeffries does not mention Tlaib specifically in the statement, but instead recommends that Democrats agree to disagree when it comes to Israel:
      As public officials serving in Congress, the words we choose matter. It is my strong belief that we must all take care to respect each other personally, even when strongly disagreeing on matters of policy or legislation. We should be able to agree to disagree on domestic or foreign policy issues, without being disagreeable with each other or the President of the United States. If the end goal following the defeat of Hamas and safe return of all hostages is a just and lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinian people, as I believe it should be, ad hominem attacks against colleagues will never accomplish that objective. The searing moment of turbulence in our society and throughout the world calls for us to tackle the challenges we confront in a serious, sober and substantive manner. Let us all recommit to doing just that for the good of everyone.
      Voters in many states across the country are casting ballots in off-year elections that could serve as important bellwethers ahead of the 2024 presidential vote. There is no shortage of races to cover, but we’ll be paying particularly close attention to Virginia, where Republican governor Glenn Youngkin is hoping his allies take control of the legislature so he can enact an abortion ban, and Ohio, a Republican-leaning state where voters are deciding where to protect abortion rights in the state constitution. In red state Kentucky, Democratic governor Andy Beshear is fighting for a second term, while in Mississippi, voters are deciding whether to send Republican Tate Reeves to the governor’s mansion again, or replace him with Democrat Brandon Presley – a cousin of Elvis Presley.But that’s not all the news that has happened today:
      The House is moving forward with a resolution to censure progressive Democrat Rashida Tlaib over comments criticizing Israel and supporting the Palestinian cause. In a speech, Tlaib said she would continue calling for a ceasefire in the ongoing invasion of Gaza.
      David Weiss, the special counsel investigating Hunter Biden, defended his independence in an unusual behind-closed-doors appearance before the House judiciary committee.
      Iowa’s Republican governor Kim Reynolds endorsed her Florida counterpart Ron DeSantis for president, saying she does not think Donald Trump can win next year.
      Maryland’s Jamie Raskin led the Democratic defense in the just-concluded floor debate over censuring Rashida Tlaib.He argued that punishing Tlaib for her criticism of Israel would undercut speech freedom:The House just suspended its consideration of the resolution to censure Tlaib, and is expected to vote on it tomorrow.Here’s video of the first half of Rashida Tlaib’s speech on the House floor defending her comments on Israel’s invasion of Gaza:In remarks on the House floor minutes after Democrats failed to block an effort to censure her for remarks her detractors say disparaged Israel, progressive Rashida Tlaib defended her criticism of the country and urged lawmakers to join in calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.“I will not be silenced and I will not let you distort my words,” Tlaib said. “No government is beyond criticism. The idea that criticizing the government of Israel is antisemitic sets a very dangerous precedent, and it’s been used to silence diverse voices speaking up for human rights across our nation.”Tlaib, who was first elected in 2018 and is a prominent member of “The Squad” of progressive female lawmakers, grew emotional as she said, “I can’t believe I have to say this, but Palestinian people are not disposable.”She continued by saying she was against attacks on both Israeli and Palestinian civilians alike:
      The cries of the Palestinian and Israeli children sound no different to me. What I don’t understand is why the cries of Palestinians sound different to you all. We cannot lose our shared humanity, Mr. Chair. I hear the voices of advocates in Israel and Palestine across America and around the world for peace.
      I’m inspired by … the courageous survivors in Israel who have lost loved ones, yet are calling for a ceasefire and the end to violence. I am grateful to the people in the streets for the peace movement with countless Jewish Americans across the country standing up and lovingly saying ‘not in our name’.
      We will continue to call for a ceasefire, Mr. Chair, for the immediate delivery of critical humanitarian aid to Gaza, for the release of all hostages and those arbitrarily detained and for every American to come home. We will continue to work for real, lasting peace that uphold human rights and dignity of all people and centers … peaceful coexistence between Israelis and Palestinians and censures no one – no one – and ensures that no person, no child has to suffer or live in fear of violence.
      Progressive Democrat Rashida Tlaib has long been outspoken against Israel’s policies towards Palestinians, but provoked a firestorm of criticism last week by defending the controversial slogan “from the river to the sea”:What makes that slogan so controversial? Here’s the Guardian’s Daniel Boffey with the answer:
      “We won’t rest until we have justice, until all people, Israelis and Palestinians, between the river and the sea can live in peaceful liberty,” said Andy McDonald, a Labour MP, at a protest in London organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign at the weekend.
      Three days later, McDonald was suspended from the party pending an investigation, leaving the former shadow cabinet minister sitting as an independent for now.
      Some feel the decision was heavy handed while others see it as a sign of strong leadership from Keir Starmer as the Labour leader tries to draw a clear line between himself and his predecessor, Jeremy Corbyn.
      The key to understanding why the party reacted so strongly is six words from McDonald’s speech – and the context in with they were spoken.
      “Between the river and the sea” is a fragment from a slogan used since the 1960s by a variety of people with a host of purposes. And it is open to an array of interpretations, from the genocidal to the democratic.
      The full saying goes: “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” – a reference to the land between the Jordan River, which borders eastern Israel, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west.
      The question then is what that means for Israel and the Jewish people.
      The House of Representatives just rejected an attempt to block a resolution censuring progressive Democrat Rashida Tlaib over her criticism of Israel.The vote was 213 opposed to tabling the resolution, 208 in favor and one voting present.The resolution accuses Tlaib, the only Palestinian American in Congress, of “promoting false narratives” regarding Hamas’s 7 October terrorist attack against Israel, and “calling for destruction for the State of Israel.”The House is expected to vote later today on the passing the resolution. Lawmakers are currently on the floor debating Tlaib’s comments.Voters across Virginia are in the middle of casting ballots for state senate and assembly seats – all of which are up for grabs. Beyond just determining control of the legislature, today’s election could decide whether Republican governor Glenn Youngkin is able to pass a ban on abortion in one of the few southern states where accessing the procedure is still possible. Here’s more on today’s election, from the Guardian’s Joan E Greve:As he approached another door in Fredericksburg, walking past Halloween decorations and trees starting to lose their autumn leaves, Muhammad Khan prepared his pitch to voters. Over the past several weeks, Khan has spoken to many of his Virginia neighbors, stressing to them that the upcoming legislative elections will determine the future of their state.Addressing fellow union organizers on Friday morning, Khan said: “We really need to fight, and we need Virginia blue.”Members of Unite Here, a hospitality workers’ union, have knocked on 230,000 doors on behalf of Democratic candidates in Virginia ahead of Tuesday, when all 140 legislative seats in the battleground state will be up for grabs.Republicans are looking to maintain their narrow majority in the house of delegates and flip control of the state senate, which would clear the way for the governor, Glenn Youngkin, to enact his policy agenda. But Democrats warn that Republicans would use their legislative trifecta in Richmond to enact a 15-week abortion ban and roll back access to the ballot box.The results in Virginia carry national implications.In his testimony before the House Judiciary Committee today, David Weiss, the justice department special counsel handling the prosecution of Hunter Biden, assured lawmakers he has full control over the case, Politico reports.Republicans have alleged political interference in the investigation of the president’s son, which centers around allegations Biden failed to pay taxes on income from his overseas business dealings, and lied about using drugs on a background check to buy a firearm. Special prosecutors usually testify to Congress only after finishing their investigation, but the justice department and Weiss agreed to a behind-closed-doors session with the GOP-controlled committee.Politico obtained part of Weiss’s testimony, and here’s what it had to say:Among the many cities and states voting today is New York City, where voters are poised to send to the city council a man who was caught up in one of its most high-profile instances of wrongful convictions, the Associated Press reports:The exonerated “Central Park Five” member Yusef Salaam is poised to win a seat Tuesday on the New York City council, marking a stunning reversal of fortune for a political newcomer who was wrongly imprisoned as a teenager in the infamous rape case.Salaam, a Democrat, will represent a central Harlem district on the city council, having run unopposed for the seat in one of many local elections playing out across New York state on Tuesday. He won his primary election in a landslide.The victory will come more than two decades after DNA evidence was used to overturn the convictions of Salaam and four other Black and Latino men in the 1989 rape and beating of a white jogger in Central Park. Salaam was imprisoned for almost seven years.“For me, this means that we can really become our ancestors’ wildest dreams,” Salaam said in an interview before the election.Less than two weeks after 18 people were killed by a gunman in their small New England city, residents headed gingerly to polling places there today.The mood was somber. Several shooting survivors remained hospitalized, flags flew at half-staff, and funerals were being held this week for those who died in the attack, the Associated Press reports.“This is a necessity. We have to do this [vote]. So we can’t neglect it even though we’ve been through a terrible tragedy,” said James Scribner, 79, a retired teacher and Marine veteran, who was joined by his wife at local school that was transformed into a polling place.The shootings on October 25 at a bar and a bowling alley in Lewiston, Maine, forced tens of thousands of residents to shelter in place for several days. Grocery stores, gas stations and restaurants were closed. The gunman was later found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in a nearby town.Local candidates paused their campaigns for a week after the shootings, and campaigning was different when it resumed, said Jon Connor, a candidate for mayor.“When we restarted campaigning, I was knocking on doors to see how people are doing,” said Connor, who was greeting voters earlier today. “We’re meeting people where they are. We want to be respectful.”Lewiston voters were choosing a mayor and filling seven city council and eight school board seats. Some election workers stayed home, either out of safety concerns or to focus on mourning, city clerk Kathy Montejo said.Voter turnout appeared slow but steady.
      It seems a little quieter, a little more subdued, a little more somber,” Montejo said.
      Some voters overcame feelings of vulnerability to get to the polls.
      It still stays in the back of my mind. But I also can’t let one person make me stay in my house all by myself. I’m still sad. But I had to do my civic duty,” voter Lori Hallett said.
      The Iowa governor, Kim Reynolds, broke her neutrality in the Republican primary and endorsed Ron DeSantis for president on Monday, saying she does not believe Donald Trump can win the general election.“I believe he can’t win,” Reynolds said in an interview with NBC. “And I believe that Ron can.”The endorsement gives DeSantis the support of a deeply popular governor (she has an 81% approval rating among likely caucus-goers, according to a Des Moines Register/NBC poll). It also gives him fuel as he tries to close a significant gap with the former president in polling, both in Iowa and across the US. Trump is currently polling at 45.6% in Iowa, according to the FiveThirtyEight average of polls, while DeSantis is at 17.1%. The Florida governor is also trying to break away from Nikki Haley, with whom he is battling for second place in the race.DeSantis is betting his presidential campaign on a strong showing in Iowa, which will hold its caucuses for the GOP nomination on 15 January.Iowa has long held the first caucuses in the presidential nominating contests and its governors do not typically endorse candidates. Reynolds had previously told others, including Trump, she would stay neutral in the contest, the New York Times reported in July. She reversed that on Monday.“As a mother and as a grandmother and as an American, I just felt like I couldn’t stand on the sidelines any longer,” she said on Monday, according to the Des Moines Register. “We have too much at stake. Our country is in a world of hurt. The world is a powder keg. And I think it’s just really important that we put the right person in office.”Full report here.Voters in Houston are heading to the polls today to elect the next mayor of the nation’s fourth largest city, choosing from a crowded field that includes US congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee and state senator John Whitmire, two longtime Democratic lawmakers, the Associated Press writes.Jackson Lee and Whitmire have dominated an open mayoral race that drew 17 candidates to the ballot in the Texan metropolis and one write-in candidate, and that has been focused on issues of crime, crumbling infrastructure and potential budget shortfalls.If elected, Jackson Lee would be Houston’s first Black female mayor. Since 1995, she has represented Houston in Congress. Whitmire has spent five decades in the Texas legislature, where he has helped drive policies that were tough on crime while casting himself as a reformer.If no candidate manages to get more than half of the vote today, the top two will head to a runoff, which would be held December 9.Jackson Lee, 73, and Whitmire, 74, have touted their experience in a race to lead one of the youngest major cities in the US.About two weeks before the election, Jackson Lee’s campaign had to contend with the release of an unverified audio recording, which is purported to capture her berating staff members with a barrage of expletives.Booming growth over the last decade in Houston has caused municipal headaches but has also turned the area into an expanding stronghold for Texas Democrats. Although the mayoral race is nonpartisan, most of the candidates are Democrats.Whitmire and Jackson Lee are seeking to replace Mayor Sylvester Turner, who has served eight years and can’t run again because of term limits. More

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      Virginians vote as all 140 legislative seats in battleground state up for grabs

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      As he approached another door in Fredericksburg, walking past Halloween decorations and trees starting to lose their autumn leaves, Muhammad Khan prepared his pitch to voters. Over the past several weeks, Khan has spoken to many of his Virginia neighbors, stressing to them that the upcoming legislative elections will determine the future of their state.Addressing fellow union organizers on Friday morning, Khan said: “We really need to fight, and we need Virginia blue.”Members of Unite Here, a hospitality workers’ union, have knocked on 230,000 doors on behalf of Democratic candidates in Virginia ahead of Tuesday, when all 140 legislative seats in the battleground state will be up for grabs.Republicans are looking to maintain their narrow majority in the house of delegates and flip control of the state senate, which would clear the way for the governor, Glenn Youngkin, to enact his policy agenda. But Democrats warn that Republicans would use their legislative trifecta in Richmond to enact a 15-week abortion ban and roll back access to the ballot box.The results in Virginia carry national implications.As one of only a handful of states holding elections this year, Virginia will serve as a crucial test of each party’s message to voters before the crucial presidential race next year. Should Republicans win, supporters of Donald Trump will see it as vindication that their party’s rightwing message still resonates. Should Democrats prevail, it will be seen as a boost for Joe Biden, who has lagged in recent polling but will then be able to point to a stronger Democratic performance in actual votes.In the final days before polls close on Tuesday, Democrats and Republicans in Virginia are working furiously to turn out as many voters as possible in these off-year elections.On Friday, Khan and his door-knocking partner, Linda Harris, canvassed a neighborhood in Fredericksburg and encouraged voters to support the house delegate candidate Josh Cole and state senate candidate Joel Griffin, whose races will help determine the majority in each chamber of the legislature.Cole lost his house of delegates seat in 2021, when Republicans secured a narrow majority in the chamber on the back of Youngkin’s success. Just one year after Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump by 10 points in Virginia, Youngkin won the state’s governorship by two points in 2021.But Cole feels that the political environment in Virginia has shifted since 2021, giving Democrats an opportunity to take back full control of the legislature. Running in a new district after Virginia redrew its legislative maps following the 2020 census, Cole said he was “cautiously optimistic” about Tuesday’s outcome.“Republicans had momentum [in 2021]. We had just won the presidency; people were frustrated at the administration,” Cole said. “And Glenn Youngkin just came out of nowhere. He was this bright, shining star, and people were attracted to that. And as we fast-forward to two years later, some people are still excited about Youngkin, but people are starting to see that he hasn’t put everything together like he said he would.”The 2022 midterms suggested that swing voters in Virginia may indeed be drifting back toward Democrats following Youngkin’s election. In 2022, Republicans targeted three congressional seats in Virginia, but they only managed to flip one district while Democrats held the other two.Despite that setback, Rich Anderson, chair of the Republican party of Virginia, said he believes Youngkin’s leadership has positioned the party for success this year.“We now are on an arc that was established in 2021,” Anderson said. “So our trajectory, I think, is a very promising one, and we will see if it holds throughout this cycle.”But the issue of abortion has presented a challenge for Republicans in Virginia and across the country.Since Roe v Wade was overturned last year, Republican-controlled states have passed a wave of laws banning or strictly limiting access to the procedure. Virginia is now the only state in the US south without severe restrictions on abortion access, and Republicans are pushing for a “reasonable 15-week limit with exceptions for rape, incest and life of the mother”, as Youngkin’s political action committee said in a recent ad. Democrats predict that Republicans’ stance on curtailing abortion access will help Democrats take full control of the Virginia legislature.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotion“The stakes of this election are so crystal clear,” said Heather Williams, interim president of the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee. “The states have been so incredibly important always, but I think the understanding of how critically important they are has become clear to voters since the fall of [Roe]. And the stakes in Virginia align perfectly with that.”Polling indicates the election will be very close. According to a Washington Post-Schar School survey conducted last month, 47% of likely Virginia voters indicated they planned to support a Democratic candidate for the house of delegates, while 45% of likely voters said they would back a Republican candidate.As always, the final results will come down to turnout, and data compiled by the Virginia Public Access Project (VPAP) suggests early voting is down compared with 2021. As of Sunday, 776,931 voters had already cast ballots, while 1,194,185 Virginians had voted by the same point in 2021.Despite Trump’s false claims about the legitimacy of early and absentee voting, Youngkin has encouraged his supporters to cast their ballots early, and Republicans say that strategy will pay off on Tuesday.“We don’t have to win the most votes this year early, but we have to take a bigger bite out of the field that the Democrats have previously commanded,” Anderson said. “And in our targeted districts, those numbers are very promising for us.”With Democrats and Republicans running neck and neck, Unite Here believes their members’ organizing efforts could make a decisive difference in helping voters understand the crucial significance of these elections.As he has knocked doors in Virginia, Khan has shared his personal story of immigrating from Pakistan and finding good-paying union work to support his family, and he has used that story to make a larger argument about the need to elect pro-union Democrats.Mario Yedidia, Unite Here’s national field director, said: “Without the kind of personal contact that you get when a working-class person knocks on your door, if you’re a working-class voter in all these districts, you’re much less likely to get out there and vote.”Harris has similarly used her own personal background to connect with voters, framing her campaign work as a way to ensure a better future for her family. Although she lives in Georgia, Harris traveled to Virginia to help with Unite Here’s campaign efforts there, saying she wants to be able to tell her grandchildren that she did everything she could to protect the right to vote.“If you don’t use it, you lose it, and right now they’re trying to take it away. So it’s very important that they don’t take it away,” Harris said. “And as long as I’m living and breathing, I’m doing what I can.” More

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      Elecciones en EE. UU.: los temas clave en las votaciones del martes

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      El martes se celebran comicios importantes en todo el país, entre ellos unas votaciones en Virginia que podrían ser cruciales para el acceso al aborto en el estado.El martes, los votantes en Ohio, Kentucky, Virginia, Misisipi y otros puntos de Estados Unidos irán a las urnas para unas elecciones locales, las cuales no deben confundirse con las principales votaciones del país, que se celebrarán en 2024. Estas votaciones, no obstante, ofrecerán algunas pistas sobre la potencia del aborto como tema mobilizador frente al lastre de los bajos niveles de aprobación del presidente Joe Biden en un momento en que los políticos se preparan para los comicios presidenciales del próximo año.Los resultados podrían determinar si es que los demócratas se afianzan en su enfoque hacia temas clave como el aborto, un asunto positivo para el partido en un nuevo sondeo New York Times/Siena que mostró que Donald Trump va por delante de Biden en cinco estados indecisos (o pendulares) a un año de las presidenciales.Aquí algunos temas para tener en cuenta:Acceso al aborto versus la impopularidad de Biden en Virginia y KentuckyEl martes se deciden en las urnas los 140 curules de la Asamblea General de Virginia. Glenn Youngkin, el gobernador republicano y con relativa popularidad en ese estado de tendencia demócrata, espera quedarse con el senado del estado y asegurar el control total republicano de Richmond. De lograrlo, Youngkin vería un impulso para sus ambiciones a nivel nacional.Pero la campaña de los demócratas se está enfocando en el derecho al aborto, advirtiendo que si los republicanos asumen el control pondrían fin al acceso al aborto en el último estado del sureste en donde aún queda.Youngkin está poniendo a prueba una concesión que los republicanos a nivel nacional esperan logre convencer a los votantes luego de que su partido perdió mucho apoyo desde que la Corte Suprema rescindió el derecho constitucional al aborto. Dicho compromiso consiste en prohibir el acceso al aborto luego de 15 semanas de gestación, con excepciones en caso de violación, incesto y riesgo a la vida de la madre. Los demócratas dicen que se trata de una artimaña, pero deben sobreponerse al lastre de la impopularidad de Biden.En Kentucky se desarrolla una dinámica similar. En ese estado los demócratas se han apoyado fuertemente en el tema del aborto, en especial para perjudicar al retador republicano que busca la gobernación, Daniel Cameron. Cameron es el actual fiscal general del estado y ha tenido que defender la prohibición total de Kentucky al aborto. El gobernador titular, el demócrata Andy Beshear, sigue siendo popular, tiene antecedentes familiares en política (su padre, Steve Beshear también fue gobernador) y una reputación de moderado que le ha blindado contra los ataques que lo acusan de ser laxo en materia de delincuencia y apoyar los derechos “radicales” de las personas transgénero.Beshear ha liderado consistentemente en los sondeos, pero su afiliación política es un riesgo en Kentucky, un estado en el que el expresidente Donald Trump ganó por unos 26 puntos porcentuales en 2020. Los últimos sondeos del ciclo apuntaban a un empate técnico.¿Los votantes de Ohio apoyarán el derecho al aborto?Desde el ascenso de Trump, Ohio ha sido un estado republicano de manera predecible, pero el martes se realizará un referéndum para establecer el derecho al aborto bajo la constitución estatal que podría ser la prueba más pura de la postura de los republicanos en el asunto. O no.Cuando se ha consultado a los votantes directamente sobre el asunto del aborto en la papeleta, los grupos a favor del derecho al aborto han tenido una racha ganadora desde que la Corte Suprema revocó el fallo Roe contra Wade y retiró las protecciones constitucionales al procedimiento. Incluso en estados profundamente republicanos como Kansas, los votantes apoyaron de forma abrumadora el derecho al aborto. Pero quienes se oponen al aborto lograron victorias impotantes previo al referéndum del martes. En esta contienda, los votantes tendrán que votar “sí” a un cambio constitucional. Históricamente los electores de Ohio han tendido a rechazar las enmiendas que se deciden en en las urnas.Si bien la enmienda establecería el “derecho a tomar y llevar a cabo sus propias decisiones reproductivas”, también permite explícitamente que el estado prohíba el aborto después de la viablidad, o cerca de las 23 semanas, cuando el feto puede sobrevivir fuera del útero, a menos que el médico de la gestante determine que el procedimiento es “necesario para proteger la vida o la salud de la paciente embarazada”. Pero en la papeleta, los votantes verán un resumen del secretario del estado, Frank LaRose, un republicano que se opone al aborto, que dice que la enmienda “permitiría siempre que un niño nonato sea abortado en cualquier momento del embarazo, sin importar la viabilidad”.Ambos bandos han acusado al otro de desinformar y de llevar a cabo tácticas sucias.En Misisipi: una prueba a la ampliación de Medicaid, y un escándaloLa prohibición al aborto en Misisipi ocasionó la caída del fallo Roe versus Wade cuando la Corte Suprema se puso del lado de Thomas E. Dobbs, funcionario de salud del estado, en el caso Dobbs versus Jackson.Este estado del sur profundo del país ahora enfrenta una batalla campal por la gobernación, pero los candidatos no se han centrado en el aborto, ya que tanto el gobernador actual, el republicano Tate Reeves, como su rival demócrata, Brandon Presley, se oponen al procedimiento.En lugar de ello, el sorprendente desafío de Presley ha sido avivado de forma potente por su impulso para ampliar Medicaid según lo establecido por la Ley de Cuidado de Salud a Bajo Precio (Affordable Care Act) y un escándalo de corrupción en el que se malgastaron 94 millones de dólares federales destinados a las comunidades pobres de Misisipi en proyectos como unas instalaciones de voleibol colegial propuestas por Brett Favre, el mariscal de campo superestrella ya retirado.Reeves nunca estuvo directamente involucrado en el escándalo, pero sí despidió a un abogado investigador justo después de que el abogado emitió un citatorio que podría haber brindado detalles sobre la participación de habitantes destacados de Misisipi.“Si crees que Tate Reeves atacará la corrupción, tengo una propiedad de playa en Nettleton para venderte”, dijo Presley este mes en un debate, haciendo alusión al noreste del estado.Presley es integrante de la Comisión de la Función Pública de Misisipi y tiene una clase única de reconocimiento de marca: es primo segundo de Elvis Presley.Pero en Misisipi, Reeves cuenta con tres ventajas que podrían ser insuperables: la titularidad como gobernador, la “R” de su afiliación partidista en la papeleta y el apoyo de Trump, que en las elecciones de 2020 ganó en el estado por casi 17 puntos porcentuales.Más iniciativas en la papeleta: riqueza, retiro y marihuana recreativaEl martes los votantes tomarán bastantes decisiones de manera directa en las urnas sin pasar por las autoridades electas. Además del aborto, la iniciativa que más atención atrae estará en Ohio, donde se decidirá si el cannabis debe legalizarse para consumo recreativo. Si los votantes están de acuerdo, Ohio sería el 24avo estado en legalizar la marihuana. Eso podría presionar al Congreso para que avance con la legalización que busca liberalizar las restricciones a las operaciones bancarias interestatales para las empresas que se dedican legalmente al cannabis.Los texanos van a decidir la suerte de 14 enmiendas constitucionales, entre ellas una que prohibiría al estado imponer un tributo “a la riqueza” o cobrar impuestos sobre el valor de mercado de los activos que se poseen pero no se venden. Los activistas liberales y algunos senadores demócratas destacados, como Elizabeth Warren de Massachusetts, han apoyado ese tipo de impuestos como la única forma de acceder al patrimonio de los multimillonarios, que pagan impuestos sobre la renta mínimos pero que llevan lujosos estilos de vida gracias a una riqueza vasta y sin carga impositiva.Los texanos también van a decidir si aumentan la edad de jubilación obligatoria para los jueces estatales de 75 a 79 años. More

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      Election Day 2023: What to Watch in Ohio, Virginia, Kentucky and More

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      Voters in Ohio, Kentucky, Virginia, Mississippi and elsewhere head to the polls on Tuesday for off-year elections that will offer clues to the continued potency of abortion against the drag of President Biden’s low approval ratings as politicians prepare for the coming presidential election year.The results may determine whether Democrats find some reassurances on their approach to key issues like abortion, which was a bright spot for the party in a new New York Times/Siena poll that showed Donald J. Trump leading Mr. Biden in five critical swing states one year out.Here is what to watch:Abortion access vs. Biden’s unpopularity in Virginia and Kentucky.All 140 seats in Virginia’s General Assembly are on the ballot Tuesday, with the Democratic-leaning state’s relatively popular Republican governor, Glenn Youngkin, hoping to capture the State Senate and secure total Republican control of Richmond. That feat would propel Mr. Youngkin’s national ambitions.But Democrats are running on abortion rights, warning that G.O.P. control would end abortion access in the last state in the Southeast.Mr. Youngkin is testing a compromise that national Republicans hope will be a winning message after so many party losses since the Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to abortion: a ban on abortion access after 15 weeks of pregnancy, with exemptions for rape, incest and the life of a mother. Democrats say that is a ruse, but they must overcome the weight of Mr. Biden’s unpopularity.A similar dynamic is playing out in Kentucky, where Democrats have leaned heavily on the abortion issue, especially to tarnish the Republican challenger for governor, Daniel Cameron, who, as the current state attorney general, has had to defend Kentucky’s total abortion ban. The incumbent Democratic governor, Andy Beshear, remains popular, with a family name (his father, Steve Beshear, was also a governor) and a moderate reputation that have insulated him against attacks that he is soft on crime and supports “radical” transgender rights.Mr. Beshear has led consistently in the polls, but in a state that former President Donald J. Trump won by about 26 percentage points in 2020, the “D” by Mr. Beshear’s name is a liability. The final polls of the cycle pointed to a dead heat.Will voters in Ohio back abortion rights?Ohio has been a reliably Republican state since the rise of Mr. Trump, but a referendum to establish a right to abortion under the state constitution could be the purest test on Tuesday of where even Republicans stand on the issue. Or not.Abortion rights groups have been on a winning streak with ballot measures that put the question of abortion straight to voters since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, doing away with constitutional protections for abortion rights. Even in deeply Republican states like Kansas, voters have overwhelmingly supported abortion access. But abortion opponents scored some important victories before the referendum on Tuesday. In this contest, voters will have to affirmatively vote “yes” on a constitutional change; Ohioans have historically tended to reject ballot amendments.While the amendment would establish “a right to make and carry out one’s own reproductive decisions,” it also explicitly allows the state to ban abortion after viability, or around 23 weeks, when the fetus can survive outside the uterus, unless the pregnant woman’s doctor finds the procedure “is necessary to protect the pregnant patient’s life or health.” But in the ballot box, voters will see a summary from the secretary of state, Frank LaRose, a Republican who opposes abortion, which says the amendment “would always allow an unborn child to be aborted at any stage of pregnancy, regardless of viability.”Both sides of the issue have accused the other of misinformation and underhanded tactics.In Mississippi, a test of expanding Medicaid — and scandal.Mississippi’s abortion ban brought down Roe v. Wade when the Supreme Court sided with Thomas E. Dobbs, Mississippi’s health officer, in Dobbs v. Jackson.The Deep South state now faces a pitched battle for governor, but the candidates have not made abortion the central issue, since the incumbent Republican governor, Tate Reeves, and his Democratic challenger, Brandon Presley, both oppose it.Instead, Mr. Presley’s surprisingly potent challenge has been fueled by a push to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act and a public corruption scandal that saw the misspending of $94 million in federal funds intended for Mississippi’s poor on projects like a college volleyball facility pushed by the retired superstar quarterback Brett Favre.Mr. Reeves was never directly implicated in the scandal, but he did fire an investigating attorney just after the lawyer issued a subpoena that could have turned up details about the involvement of prominent Mississippians“If you think Tate Reeves will take on corruption, I’ve got some beachfront property in Nettleton to sell you,” Mr. Presley said in a debate this month, referring to his hometown in the state’s northeast.Mr. Presley, a member of the Mississippi Public Service Commission, has a unique kind of name recognition; he is a second cousin of Elvis Presley.But in Mississippi, Mr. Reeves has three advantages that could prove impenetrable: incumbency, the “R” next to his name on the ballot, and the endorsement of Mr. Trump, who won the state in 2020 by nearly 17 percentage points.Ballot initiatives, from wealth to weed.Voters will make numerous direct decisions on Tuesday, bypassing elected officials. Beyond abortion, the most watched initiative will be, again, in Ohio, where voters will decide whether cannabis should be legalized for recreational use. If voters agree, Ohio would become the 24th state to legalize marijuana. That could put pressure on Congress to move forward legislation at least to ease restrictions on interstate banking for legal cannabis businesses.Texans will decide the fate of 14 constitutional amendments, including one that would bar the state from imposing a “wealth” tax, or a tax on the market value of assets owned but not sold. Liberal activists and some prominent Democratic senators, such as Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, have pushed such taxes as the only way to tap the wealth of billionaires, whose income taxes are minimal but whose vast, untaxed wealth supports lavish lifestyles.Texans will also decide whether to raise the mandatory retirement age of state judges to 79, from 75. More

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      Can Glenn Youngkin Save the G.O.P. from Trumpism?

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      It’s a perfect fall weekend in Virginia horse country, about two weeks before Election Day, and the American Legion hall in Middleburg is decked out for a rally featuring Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who is not on the ballot but is stumping hard for his fellow Republicans. His name is everywhere: on a bright blue backdrop behind the stage, on the swag in the front room, on the side of a bus out front with the slogan “Strengthening the Spirit of Virginia Together.” The bus is a high-end prop for Mr. Youngkin’s “Secure Your Vote” tour, which has him crisscrossing the state to promote early voting. His attempt to reverse Republican mistrust of early and absentee voting is one way the governor stands apart from the leader of his party, Donald Trump. But it is not the only way.Looking over the crowd, you can’t help but notice a dearth of Trump paraphernalia. One woman has on a blue “Nikki Haley for president” vest, and another one is rocking a “Moms for Liberty” T-shirt. Virginia’s Republican base has plenty of Trump love, yet it’s not a visibly MAGA-rific gathering. This makes a certain political sense: Joe Biden won this county in 2020, as did Mr. Youngkin’s Democratic rival in 2021. But the fact that Mr. Youngkin is aggressively campaigning in blue areas is not only a sign of his popularity, it differentiates him from Mr. Trump, who largely sticks to safe conservative spaces.As Mr. Youngkin bounds into the hall in his signature red vest — smile beaming, cheeks ruddy from the wind — he radiates the upbeat, hunky-P.T.A.-dad vibe that helped carry him to victory in 2021. His voice ranges from an urgent whisper to a gargly rasp as he raves not about his personal grievances or some vision of American carnage, but about the “common sense” plans he and his party have for Virginia. He spotlights a handful of policy areas — jobs, tax relief, crime, mental health care, education — and contends that Republicans, and Virginians, “win” when sensible people come together. Mr. Youngkin’s sales pitch casts the G.O.P. as a party filled with practical folks who want to get stuff done — as opposed to the Democrats, he charges, who “just want to sell fear.”Remember that “fear” line. It’s revealing about Mr. Youngkin’s brand of politics, but it’s also about as edgy as the guy gets. His performance is a far cry from MAGA.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.We are confirming your access to this article, this will take just a moment. However, if you are using Reader mode please log in, subscribe, or exit Reader mode since we are unable to verify access in that state.Confirming article access.If you are a subscriber, please  More