In Kansas this week, the scale of voter turnout and the 59-41 margin of victory to reject the abortion ban on the ballot hit like a thunderclap. After all, the last time this deeply conservative state voted for a Democrat for president was Lyndon Johnson in 1964. The arrival of over 900,000 voters—nearly doubling the number who showed up for the 2018 primaries, matching that year’s general election and exceeding the votes cast in the midterm general elections in 2014 and 2010—is causing strategists to rethink the calculus.
This unexpectedly decisive outcome should encourage voters determined to sustain women’s reproductive freedom to expect a more energized Democratic electorate in November. A New York Timesanalysis suggests that about 65 percent of voters nationwide and majorities in over 40 states would reject a similar referendum to ban abortion. But the question lingers whether abortion rights will be decisive for Democrats in November when this issue is not directly on the ballot and voters are considering the significance of other issues. Inflation remains the top issue for a majority of Republicans. That said:
What do you think? Does the vote in Kansas give you hope for November? Do you expect that candidates committed to reproductive freedom will energize Democrats and drive voter turnout? Has Kansas motivated you to get more involved and believe the traditional tide against the party in power is not inevitable? As always, I look forward to reading what’s on your mind and the opportunity for this community to learn from each other.
*Photo Credit: Pro-choice Kansas voters learn that the constitutional amendment to strip away abortion rights failed. Photo by Dave Kaup/AFP via Getty Images.
Guarded, cautious hope, yes! BUT there is so much to do, each in our own productive ways. We need to mobilize the vote itself. No buying tiny $5 chocolates at Whole Foods to save the whales. Don't fool yourself that those postings on the social media do anything meaningful. We need to GET OUT THE VOTE.
No offense to whales: buy the $5 chocolate if you must, post away all night on Facebook (that'll show 'em!), but also: get out the vote by volunteering to drive people to polls, go door to door to register voters. DO something.
Following the historic Kansas vote, we need to organize another historic event that will take the momentum to a new level and energize young voters to turn out in the midterms. Given the lackluster support for President Biden among the youth, we need to fire them up to turn out and vote Democrat. I’m thinking a nationwide walk-out across all colleges, universities and high schools in the fall. The main issue would be a protest of anti-abortion laws, but it could include guns, voter suppression, racism, climate – all the threats to our rights, democracy and lives, and all issues that will fire up young voters.
In May 1970, students across 400 universities called off classes in protest of Vietnam, Cambodia, Kent State, and the killing of two black students at Jackson State College in Mississippi. It was the first general student strike in history. https://www.continuum.umn.edu/2020/06/1970-student-strike-50-years-later/
These times call for something equally historic. A national walk-out would presumably be much easier to organize now with the many groups working together and the benefit of social media. I think staging this for early October is close enough to the midterms to keep the energy going. We also want it early enough to allow anyone unregistered to vote to register before any registration deadlines expire. Holding it on election day risks taking people away from other volunteer opportunities, so I feel it should be earlier.
I am reaching out to every activist and organization I can to plant the seed of this idea and hope it will take off. Please share!
Are you forgetting Kent State with 4 dead and 9 injured by the National Guard of Ohio? The Guard is called to action by a state's governor, and by the President with the permission of the state governor. There are 25 states now, in 2022, considered Republican governed. If more as predicted in 2022, do you think those states would not call out the National Guard to put down demonstrations against Republican held policies, and that people would not be hurt, killed?
Hopefully, many voters will understand, this IS NOT just about abortion. Today, it's abortion, tomorrow it will be, access to birth control, gay marriage, freedom of religion, interracial marriage, child marriage, a whole host of rights we take for granted .
That's why I'm concerned about making this one issue a referendum rather than something people have to vote through their legislators on. The pro-abortion pro-GOP folks are able to keep abortion but also keep their GOP legislators who will support all that other bad stuff.
The day Dobbs was leaked I knew it was going to deliver Democrats gains in the House and the Senate. So yes it gives me hope seeing my prediction manifest!
I think the Supreme Court decision has brought a new level of reality to what is happening in this country. Perhaps that, combined with the revelations of the January 6 hearings, has awakened a hitherto complacent segment of voters, particularly independents, and caused them to finally “make their voices heard.“
No, I still do not believe that the majority of Americans recognize the grave danger of this moment. The absence of massive rallies, strikes, and protests for abortion and other civil rights, the lackluster response of corporations, the complacency of media, the refusal of Democratic leadership to explain the realities of daily life under authoritarian rule leave me with a fatalistic view of this moment.
The GOP is close to realizing a 40-year goal of holding a Constitutional Convention to rewrite the Constitution. Then what?
In 2020, Ukrainians didn't really believe that their lives would be torn apart with mass rapes, war crimes, internment camps. American are no different...we don't really believe that things will get that bad, that life will change that much. And that refusal to face reality will be our downfall.
Does give hope; just cause primary winners on GOP side are a lot of demented donny's folk, we still have Nov to get the job done IF ppl, including men to protect their women, will just GET OUT AND VOTE the candidates who save rights of all and save our democracy from an authoritarian, autocratic, fascist outcome. Have voted by mail for several years but this Nov will probably hand carry ballot back to election commission to be sure...
Absolutely! The difference between general policy issues and potential personal involvement or anxiety with the effect of banning abortion underlies the turnout. Most parents or grandparents of a teenager or older now have a new fear of the consequences. Most Democrats and perhaps twenty-five percent of Republicans are offended by state government restricting their individual freedom to decide their own reproductive health! A significant number of rural counties in Kansas which Trump carried overwhelmingly voted NO by narrow majorities, reflecting the deep concerns of a significant number of Republicans. Perhaps this moment in our political history will reflect a coming together of Americans that we need to begin a broader dialogue post-trump!
I had hope until Indiana yesterday! America needs a federal law to settle this once and for all. Leaving it "up to the states" literally means dangerous consequences for any woman living in a deep, red state. Oh, and any medical professional as well!
In a word, yes, it gives me hope. Feeling a bit more buoyant but really want our media to stop using the word "Conservatives" for the Republican Party: as Ruth BG recently said, "Conservative and Coup do NOT belong together."
Yes, some hope. But I keep harkening back to James Orville: It's the economy, stupid. While the numbers show that a majority of Americans don't want this ban on abortion, alas, I believe that buying food for the family, gas for the family car, and prescription medicine along with other needed healthcare services still are the main focus every day. Except for those who can more easily handle every day and have the passion to make sure this important right to women's reproductive healthcare and privacy is protected. It may be up to the activist organizations to remind all voters that in addition to their everyday needs, our Constitution is on the ballot, and we have to think of reinstating these rights that the Supreme Court stripped away in June.
Yes. Yes it does, as far as the general public is concerned. However, what has been done, and continues to be done in Trump/GOP states, remains to be seen.
I may not understand this, but if the abortion issue is moved to a referendum rather than having the state legislators vote on it, doesn't that mean that pro-abortion GOP folks can have their cake and eat it too? I.e., they can support abortion but still vote red? Wouldn't it be better, for the DEMS, to have the legislators vote on it? Kansas will still have their GOP in power which means that other bad things will be supported.
Kansas voters gave us some hope during this stressful time, but , The Kansas state constitution protected abortion rights; it will not be so easy for the other states if, their State constitution is not supporting them. Still hopeful that more states will find a way protect their right.
I want to be hopeful, yet will remain skeptical until after the election. I don’t trust the right wing activists to give up easily. They have spent 40 years planning for this SCOTUS decision. The cost of a gallon of gas impacts people in their pocketbook. The right to control our own body has long term costs, not necessarily immediate costs, or so many seem to think. The thought of a national student strike is appealing .
It gives me very, very cautious hope. But I believe Republicans will ALWAYS vote straight Republican ticket, no matter who the candidate is. An example is Mr. Bowers of Arizona, who refused to follow Trump's illegal efforts to overturn the election and testified before the J6 Committee, yet the next day declared that if Trump were the candidate in 2024 he would definitely vote for him because he's Republican. So unless voters turn out in record numbers and vote Blue, this country will fail to exist as we currently know it.
I believe the government should have personal control over the lives of soldiers and criminals.
I personally think abortions are necessary when mother in danger or child would not survive with terrible defects. Also necessary for rape or incest plus include perpetrator being jailed. The government cannot control who can travel throughout the US. It has no business trying to ban birth control methods, marriages, gender preferences. Sex and its results are not the business of Representatives or Senators. Republicans seem to have a fetish, an over the top obsession with sex and control of women, yet, many of them are often in the news for misbehavior. However, I am not for it for people who just don't want it to interfere with their life, or they cannot afford it, or they already have enough children. They should have thought of the consequences when enjoying the moment, for in reality, a fetus is not yet a person, but will become one.
Yes, very cautious hope.
Guarded, cautious hope, yes! BUT there is so much to do, each in our own productive ways. We need to mobilize the vote itself. No buying tiny $5 chocolates at Whole Foods to save the whales. Don't fool yourself that those postings on the social media do anything meaningful. We need to GET OUT THE VOTE.
No offense to whales: buy the $5 chocolate if you must, post away all night on Facebook (that'll show 'em!), but also: get out the vote by volunteering to drive people to polls, go door to door to register voters. DO something.
Slacktivism won't save us, but our ACTIONS may.
Following the historic Kansas vote, we need to organize another historic event that will take the momentum to a new level and energize young voters to turn out in the midterms. Given the lackluster support for President Biden among the youth, we need to fire them up to turn out and vote Democrat. I’m thinking a nationwide walk-out across all colleges, universities and high schools in the fall. The main issue would be a protest of anti-abortion laws, but it could include guns, voter suppression, racism, climate – all the threats to our rights, democracy and lives, and all issues that will fire up young voters.
In May 1970, students across 400 universities called off classes in protest of Vietnam, Cambodia, Kent State, and the killing of two black students at Jackson State College in Mississippi. It was the first general student strike in history. https://www.continuum.umn.edu/2020/06/1970-student-strike-50-years-later/
These times call for something equally historic. A national walk-out would presumably be much easier to organize now with the many groups working together and the benefit of social media. I think staging this for early October is close enough to the midterms to keep the energy going. We also want it early enough to allow anyone unregistered to vote to register before any registration deadlines expire. Holding it on election day risks taking people away from other volunteer opportunities, so I feel it should be earlier.
I am reaching out to every activist and organization I can to plant the seed of this idea and hope it will take off. Please share!
Are you forgetting Kent State with 4 dead and 9 injured by the National Guard of Ohio? The Guard is called to action by a state's governor, and by the President with the permission of the state governor. There are 25 states now, in 2022, considered Republican governed. If more as predicted in 2022, do you think those states would not call out the National Guard to put down demonstrations against Republican held policies, and that people would not be hurt, killed?
Not a good idea.
Hopefully, many voters will understand, this IS NOT just about abortion. Today, it's abortion, tomorrow it will be, access to birth control, gay marriage, freedom of religion, interracial marriage, child marriage, a whole host of rights we take for granted .
That's why I'm concerned about making this one issue a referendum rather than something people have to vote through their legislators on. The pro-abortion pro-GOP folks are able to keep abortion but also keep their GOP legislators who will support all that other bad stuff.
The day Dobbs was leaked I knew it was going to deliver Democrats gains in the House and the Senate. So yes it gives me hope seeing my prediction manifest!
I think the Supreme Court decision has brought a new level of reality to what is happening in this country. Perhaps that, combined with the revelations of the January 6 hearings, has awakened a hitherto complacent segment of voters, particularly independents, and caused them to finally “make their voices heard.“
Hopefully…
I love the student strike idea - it could be very powerful!
No, I still do not believe that the majority of Americans recognize the grave danger of this moment. The absence of massive rallies, strikes, and protests for abortion and other civil rights, the lackluster response of corporations, the complacency of media, the refusal of Democratic leadership to explain the realities of daily life under authoritarian rule leave me with a fatalistic view of this moment.
The GOP is close to realizing a 40-year goal of holding a Constitutional Convention to rewrite the Constitution. Then what?
In 2020, Ukrainians didn't really believe that their lives would be torn apart with mass rapes, war crimes, internment camps. American are no different...we don't really believe that things will get that bad, that life will change that much. And that refusal to face reality will be our downfall.
Does give hope; just cause primary winners on GOP side are a lot of demented donny's folk, we still have Nov to get the job done IF ppl, including men to protect their women, will just GET OUT AND VOTE the candidates who save rights of all and save our democracy from an authoritarian, autocratic, fascist outcome. Have voted by mail for several years but this Nov will probably hand carry ballot back to election commission to be sure...
Absolutely! The difference between general policy issues and potential personal involvement or anxiety with the effect of banning abortion underlies the turnout. Most parents or grandparents of a teenager or older now have a new fear of the consequences. Most Democrats and perhaps twenty-five percent of Republicans are offended by state government restricting their individual freedom to decide their own reproductive health! A significant number of rural counties in Kansas which Trump carried overwhelmingly voted NO by narrow majorities, reflecting the deep concerns of a significant number of Republicans. Perhaps this moment in our political history will reflect a coming together of Americans that we need to begin a broader dialogue post-trump!
I had hope until Indiana yesterday! America needs a federal law to settle this once and for all. Leaving it "up to the states" literally means dangerous consequences for any woman living in a deep, red state. Oh, and any medical professional as well!
You’re making the case for big voter turnout for the Dems to hold onto the majority to make federal legislation possible.
Yes, Indeed!
In a word, yes, it gives me hope. Feeling a bit more buoyant but really want our media to stop using the word "Conservatives" for the Republican Party: as Ruth BG recently said, "Conservative and Coup do NOT belong together."
Yes, some hope. But I keep harkening back to James Orville: It's the economy, stupid. While the numbers show that a majority of Americans don't want this ban on abortion, alas, I believe that buying food for the family, gas for the family car, and prescription medicine along with other needed healthcare services still are the main focus every day. Except for those who can more easily handle every day and have the passion to make sure this important right to women's reproductive healthcare and privacy is protected. It may be up to the activist organizations to remind all voters that in addition to their everyday needs, our Constitution is on the ballot, and we have to think of reinstating these rights that the Supreme Court stripped away in June.
Yes. Yes it does, as far as the general public is concerned. However, what has been done, and continues to be done in Trump/GOP states, remains to be seen.
I may not understand this, but if the abortion issue is moved to a referendum rather than having the state legislators vote on it, doesn't that mean that pro-abortion GOP folks can have their cake and eat it too? I.e., they can support abortion but still vote red? Wouldn't it be better, for the DEMS, to have the legislators vote on it? Kansas will still have their GOP in power which means that other bad things will be supported.
YES. 😃
Kansas voters gave us some hope during this stressful time, but , The Kansas state constitution protected abortion rights; it will not be so easy for the other states if, their State constitution is not supporting them. Still hopeful that more states will find a way protect their right.
Unless phalanxes of young women want feudal landlords to control their bodies they'd better show up and vote Blue en masse.
I want to be hopeful, yet will remain skeptical until after the election. I don’t trust the right wing activists to give up easily. They have spent 40 years planning for this SCOTUS decision. The cost of a gallon of gas impacts people in their pocketbook. The right to control our own body has long term costs, not necessarily immediate costs, or so many seem to think. The thought of a national student strike is appealing .
It gives me very, very cautious hope. But I believe Republicans will ALWAYS vote straight Republican ticket, no matter who the candidate is. An example is Mr. Bowers of Arizona, who refused to follow Trump's illegal efforts to overturn the election and testified before the J6 Committee, yet the next day declared that if Trump were the candidate in 2024 he would definitely vote for him because he's Republican. So unless voters turn out in record numbers and vote Blue, this country will fail to exist as we currently know it.
I believe the government should have personal control over the lives of soldiers and criminals.
I personally think abortions are necessary when mother in danger or child would not survive with terrible defects. Also necessary for rape or incest plus include perpetrator being jailed. The government cannot control who can travel throughout the US. It has no business trying to ban birth control methods, marriages, gender preferences. Sex and its results are not the business of Representatives or Senators. Republicans seem to have a fetish, an over the top obsession with sex and control of women, yet, many of them are often in the news for misbehavior. However, I am not for it for people who just don't want it to interfere with their life, or they cannot afford it, or they already have enough children. They should have thought of the consequences when enjoying the moment, for in reality, a fetus is not yet a person, but will become one.