The Democrats dominated the election

What Will Be Done If You’re Not Trying to Win? Andy Beshear, a Blue Dot in a Red State Government: The Case of a Black Governor

Democrats said that Beshear’s win would be bad news for Republicans in the future. According to Kentucky Public Radio the winning parties of the last six governor’s elections have matched those of the presidential election winners.

But despite being a blue dot in a very red state government, Beshear’s popularity has remained high. A recent Morning Consult poll found 43 percent of Kentucky Republicans approve of Beshear.

Even before he first ran for office in 2015, his family name was familiar to many Kentuckians. His father, Steve Beshear, has been involved in state politics since 1974 and served as governor from 2007 to 2015.

“This is a race about our kids and our grandkids. It’s important to make sure that this Commonwealth has a governor that will stand up and fight against Joe Biden instead of endorsing him, something that we have in Andy Beshear,” he said.

“It’s unbelievable, I dare say crazy, that you’d have a governor who would endorse the policies and the president who have created this mess that we’re in,” Cameron said, referring largely to inflation.

There’s a historic nature to Cameron’s bid as well. If elected, he would be the first Black Republican governor in the country since Reconstruction.

For some people in Kentuckians and spectators, the election is an example of how hard it can be to fight for your rights in this country. National scrutiny was brought up for not charging the officers who played a role in Taylor’s death.

Activists were incensed by the call in the National Guard to Louisville during the racial-justice protests years ago. The killing of David McAtee, a Black restaurant owner was carried out by National Guard members.

The Beshear Campaign in Kentucky: Supporting the Right to Abortion, Against the Overturn of the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade

In 2022, Kentuckians rejected adding language to the state constitution that would make it harder to challenge abortion restrictions. Abortion rights has been on the ballot in seven states – red and blue– since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last summer. Anti-abortion groups lost each time.

A young woman who was raped at the age of 12 was featured in a campaign ad for Beshear, who advocated for increased abortion access.

“This is to you, DanielCameron: to tell a child that her mother raped them is not ok,” the woman says in the ad.

The Supreme Court’s overturn of the right to abortion was applauded by CAMERON as he supported the total ban. Cameron wavered slightly from his stance after Beshear ran ads attacking him for not supporting exceptions for rape and incest.

“Look, I think that the legislature, if they work on this, I will sign those exceptions,” Cameron said. I’m the pro-life candidate at the end of the day.

Beshear has pointed to recent economic development and large-scale infrastructure projects — which were partially funded by the bipartisan infrastructure law Biden signed in 2021.

The Beshear campaign has released several ads that show Trump supporters and Republicans agreeing to vote for Beshear because he also represents their interests.

“People should be able to vote for whoever they want, not stick to just one team or another but to actually look at the candidates and say, ‘Who is going to make my life better?'” Beshear said.

Kentucky Republicans are motivated in presidential elections. In odd-years, Democrats and Republicans tend to show up at roughly similar rates.

Early Voting for Kentucky’s Next President: The Case for a More Budgetary gubernatorial race and the Kentucky Public Radio Network

He said that people come from the woodwork to vote for a president, while officers are more important to their daily lives and quality of living.

“People kind of look at you like they’ve never heard any of this before,” Adams said. You take questions about Kevin McCarthy and Jim Jordan.

This will be the first time in Kentucky that voters have the option to vote an extra three days, and Adams has advocated for it. More than 260,000 Kentuckians have already taken advantage of this early voting, a small increase over last year’s midterm election.

This year’s gubernatorial race has also been one of the most expensive in state history. The two candidates and their supporting PACs have spent over 59 million dollars since the primary, more than double the amount in the previous gubernatorial race.

The results of the election will shed light on whether national political loyalties trump partisan lines when it comes to the election of the next president.

Kentucky Public Radio is a four-station collaborative of Louisville Public Media, WKU Public Radio, WKMS and WEKU. For more of their coverage from across Kentucky, click here.

The Virginia House of Delegates – A Gamechanger for Reproductive Healthcare and the Laws of Virginia, and a Case Study in Ohio

The Virginia legislature had 140 seats up for election this year. Democrats not only maintained control of the state Senate but also won enough seats to flip the House, giving them more power to push back on Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin and his agenda.

The entire 140-seat legislature was up for grabs. The elections received significant national attention, with prominent Democrats like President Biden and former President Barack Obama boosting their party with emails and robocalls.

While abortion rights were no doubt a motivating factor for many Virginia voters, it’s worth noting that there were many other campaign issues at play as well, including crime and the economy.

Gov. Glenn Youngkin has supported a proposal to ban most abortions after 15 weeks, with some exceptions, and heavily campaigned with Republicans to try to win a trifecta government in Richmond, Va.

Don Scott, the minority leader of House Democrats, told NPR Democratic candidates had “the message, the candidates, and the momentum to put a stop to the extreme Republicans’ agenda.”

The House will select its speaker on Saturday; Scott is the frontrunner. He would be the first Black speaker in the Virginia House of Delegates if elected.

One of the most closely watched campaigns of the season was in Ohio where voters approved a ballot initiative that gave protections for reproductive health decisions in the state constitution.

With the entire legislature up for re-election, Democrats managed to take control of the state House of Delegates while maintaining control of the state Senate – an important goal for abortion rights supporters in a state with a divided legislature and a Republican governor.

“Ohio is the first state where I really believe we can go on offense, and we can win,” Hall says. “And that is an inspiring example that shines a light on the path for other red states.”

The vote in Ohio followed a special election in August, when Republican lawmakers put a question on the ballot – also called Issue 1 – that would have made it more difficult to amend the state constitution. Ohio voters turned out in larger-than-expected numbers to reject that proposal.

There are signs that legislation is out of touch with Kentucky voters, who last year rejected an amendment that would have added language to the state constitution making it harder to challenge abortion restrictions.

A Political Analysis of a Candidate: Brandon Pressley, the Second Grand Rapids State Senator, and a Democrat-Centric Black Hole

He defeated Brandon Pressley, a Democrat and one of the state’s three public service commissioners (not to mention a second cousin of the rock and roll legend Elvis). Pressley campaigned in part on expanding Medicaid in the state, which Reeves has refused to do.

With the fight over abortion policy increasingly playing out in state legislatures and courts, abortion rights advocates have been paying closer attention to state Supreme Court races.

McCaffery won an open seat on the state Supreme Court after the American Civil Liberties Union helped him defeat Carolyn Carluccio, who was a Republican. Groups that support abortion rights in the state want to make sure that they have more access in the future.

Democrats around the country are already focused on the 2024 presidential race and looking to Tuesday’s elections as a possible litmus test on the national mood.

In a message on the X platform, President Biden said that the voters once again voted to protect their fundamental freedoms.

The state’s Republican governor and GOP-led Congress opposed the amendment, and had tried unsuccessfully to change the state constitution to require a 60% threshold to pass constitutional amendments, as opposed to a simple majority.

Reeves’ popularity and fundraising prowess gave him a significant and expected advantage, but the race became more competitive than many had expected, as Mississippi Public Broadcasting reported.

Pressley’s Democratic opponent in this year’s elections was criticized for not doing much to engage Black voters.

The leader of the Delaware River Port Authority has held a number of positions including being a state representative on the Philadelphia City Council.

Philadelphia’s First Black Person: Michelle Parker, Gabe Amo, and Her Former Ward 1 Congressional District Representative, Jacobi Ngao Amo

WHYY reports that a tough-on-crime agenda and the endorsement of the city’s Democratic establishment were factors that lead to her victory in the primary.

She has promised to hire 300 new police officers, aggressively target low-level crimes, and bring in the National Guard as part of her response to the opioid crisis. She has also floated “year-round” schooling and gradually reducing city wage taxes, among other proposals.

Parker, who has spoken of being born to a single teenage mother and raised by her grandparents on welfare and food subsidies, told her supporters she would use her personal, academic, and professional experience to “make Philadelphia the safest, the greenest big city in the nation with economic opportunity for all.”

Farther north, Gabe Amo won the special election for Rhode Island’s 1st Congressional District seat, becoming the first Black person to represent the state in Congress.

David Cicilline, who was a Democrat, stepped down in the summer to become the president of the Rhode Island Foundation. Amo will be up for reelection again in a few years.

The 35-year-old son of Ghanaian and Liberian immigrants most recently served as the deputy director of the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, working as Biden’s principal liaison to mayors and local elected officials.

Amo will push for legalized abortion rights, as well as fight federal legislation to combat climate change, and promote stronger gun control legislation, the Associated Press reported.

“Undoubtedly, I’m humbled by the real momentous opportunity to serve as the first person of color,” Amo told the AP. “But I didn’t run to make history.”