Early voting is set to start Friday in Virginia, where every seat in the state legislature is on the ballot in a high-stakes election with major implications for 2024.
Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s 2021 win ended a multiyear Democratic streak of statewide victories. Those wins were largely fueled by the party’s gains in the commonwealth’s northern suburbs outside Washington, DC.
Youngkin, whose political action committee raised $12 million between March and August of this year, would see his political ambitions buoyed if the GOP keeps its state House majority and flips the narrow Democratic edge in the state Senate, giving Republicans full control of state government.
The election could also decide the future of abortion access in Virginia – the only Southern state that hasn’t imposed new restrictions on the procedure since the Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade last year. Youngkin has proposed a ban on abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, with exceptions for rape, incest and when the life of the mother is in jeopardy.
Democrats across the country have used the abortion issue to motivate their voters, turning in a stronger-than-expected showing in last year’s midterm elections and then winning a key judicial race in Wisconsin this spring in which abortion was the central issue. And on post-Roe ballot initiatives across the country, voters have sided with the pro-abortion rights position, even in traditionally red states.
In another marquee election this fall, Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear of Kentucky launched an ad this week hammering his GOP challenger, state Attorney General Daniel Cameron, over his opposition to abortion rights.
In Virginia, the most crucial territory in the battle for control of the state legislature could be the Richmond suburbs in Henrico County. Those include the state’s 16th Senate District,…
Read the full article here
Leave a Reply