Thank You for Voting!

Here's a quick review of election day results across the United States:

Democrats turned out again! Despite some shady actions to reduce voter turnout or even block folks from voting, Democrats still showed up in numbers to defeat Republicans in most states.

My home state of VA: Governor Youngkin had promised that if Republicans could gain control of the Senate, he’d pass a law banning abortion after 15 weeks. Now he can deal with a Democratic majority in the Senate and the House until the end of his term. He can also deal with the jokes about his presidential hopes.

Kentucky: Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear won reelection. He’s the only Democrat in a statewide elected position in Kentucky. He ran on abortion rights and his leadership during Covid-19 and during natural disasters.

New York City: Yusef Salaam, one of the Exonerated 5 won a seat on New York City Council. This is emotional for me. What those teens went through - the way they were abused by the police, judiciary, and carceral systems, the way people like 45 were calling for their deaths and still refuse to acknowledge their innocence. For one of them to be mentally and physically well enough after all that to run for and win a seat to represent the people is amazing.

Ohio: Voters approved a constitutional amendment to ensure access to abortion and contraceptives. I was worried about this because it was intentionally worded on the ballot in a way to push folks to vote no. I think the exact wording of the law should be included on the ballot so people know what they are voting for. I know it could take up a lot of space and people want the short version, but when the synopsis is intentionally misleading or emotional instead of presented in non-leading language, that’s a problem. You can check out the ballot wording vs the way the law is written here. Pay attention to the first sentence of the last paragraph on the ballot. Notice how the ballot doesn’t explicitly list contraception, fertility treatment, or miscarriage care, which are explicitly listed in the law.

Pennsylvania: Democrats won an open seat on the state Supreme Court as well as positions on lower courts, despite the massive amount of money that flowed into the campaign, including from a billionaire, to support the Republican candidate.

Cherelle Parker became the first woman mayor of Philadelphia!

Rhode Island: In a special election Democrat Gabriel Amo became the state’s first Black and first person of color to represent Rhode Island in Congress.

Mississippi: Republicans won across the board in Mississippi, but there was some shady business. In majority Black areas, at least 9 precincts ran out of ballots to the point that a court ordered precincts to remain open past 7pm to allow people to vote. There’s just no way that this is unintentional because we only ever hear of this happening in Black and brown districts and in Democratic districts, never in majority white Republican districts. The people inconvenienced are the ones who can least afford to miss work or spend extra time waiting, but they are also the group that will stay in protest.