#reelect Andy Beshear

[shadowdemon-gd]

If you’re in Kentucky, please vote for Andy Beshear. Please

#andy beshear #daniel cameron #Kentucky gubernatorial election 2023 #2023 elections #vote blue to save democracy #reject gop fascism #fuck the republican party #fuck the gop #reelect Andy Beshear

[the-cimmerians]

At midnight on Saturday, more than 20 anti-LGBTQ+ bills died in West Virginia after the legislature adjourned sine die. Bills that did not pass included the misleadingly named "Women’s Bill of Rights," which would have ended legal recognition for transgender people in the state, as well as a bill that would have prohibited gender-affirming care for all transgender youth. West Virginia is the second state in a week hinting that anti-transgender legislative attacks are encountering resistance. Last week, Florida's legislature also adjourned, effectively killing dozens of anti-transgender bills.

One bill that failed to pass as the West Virginia legislature adjourned was House Bill 5243, also known as the misleadingly-named "Women’s Bill of Rights" by its proponents. The bill primarily aimed to exclude transgender individuals from all legal gender protections in the state. Riley Gaines, who heavily promoted the bill, joined Governor Jim Justice at a press conference where it was announced as a major policy priority. The proposed legislation would have led to bathroom restrictions, prohibitions on driver's license and ID changes, and the elimination of legal recognition for transgender people's gender identities. Despite frantic, last-minute efforts by some Republicans to pass it, Democratic lawmakers countered by proposing dozens of amendments for debate. As a result, Republicans placed it at the bottom of the calendar.

“HB 5243 offered no real tangible protections for cisgender women, all while punching down on another marginalized community, and sought to erase protections for transgender West Virginians,” says Ash Orr, a trans organizer in West Virginia, “Essentially, it amounted to yet another culture war bill designed to divert attention from genuine issues affecting all residents of West Virginia.”

Another bill that did not pass in West Virginia was House Bill 5297, which sought to entirely prohibit gender-affirming care for all transgender youth. The state had previously enacted a ban on gender-affirming care, but it included an exception for transgender youth experiencing "severe dysphoria." HB 5297 aimed to eliminate that exception. More than 400 health care providers signed a letter opposing the bill, describing gender-affirming care as lifesaving and urging the legislature to reject it. The bill failed to pass before the legislature adjourned, meaning that at least some transgender youth in the state will continue to be able to receive care, making it one of the few red states where this is still the case.

The state is the latest in a series of developments suggesting that the anti-transgender panic gripping the GOP may be diminishing in the lead-up to the 2024 elections. Florida also recently adjourned without passing numerous anti-transgender and anti-LGBTQ+ bills. Recent elections have raised questions about the effectiveness of anti-transgender policies in driving voter turnout. In 2023, more than 70% of Moms for Liberty candidates were defeated. The Virginia legislature shifted to Democratic control, despite Governor Youngkin's efforts to campaign for Republicans by emphasizing anti-transgender politics as a policy priority. Governor Andy Beshear was reelected in Kentucky despite substantial ad expenditures attacking him for vetoing anti-transgender legislation.

When asked about the failure of these to pass, Orr stated, “The truth is, transgender people of all ages are living happy, complete, and beautiful lives - this contradicts the false narrative created around our community by anti-transgender politicians.”

The only bill that did pass in the state was a bill that would stop non-binary gender markers on birth certificates, though it is unclear what effect the legislation would have given that the state did not have a history of issuing such birth certificates.

Although these bills are failing to pass in states that have historically targeted transgender individuals, it remains unclear whether their failure signifies a genuine shift away from targeting LGBTQ+ people or merely a pause in anticipation of the 2024 election outcomes. The threat remains significant in many areas, with a few extreme bills being enacted this year, including a gender-affirming care ban in Wyoming and an adult bathroom ban in Utah. Additionally, some new states have witnessed the successful advancement of anti-trans legislation, such as a "Parents Rights in Education" bill in Washington, which could lead to forced outings, and a bill in New Hampshire that permits sports and bathroom bans. The national budget debate also includes anti-trans provisions that are still under negotiation.

Nevertheless, activists in states that have experienced the most severe attacks see reasons for celebration and hope. The failure of dozens of bills targeting the LGBTQ+ community means that residents in these states will have another year to prepare and strategize. If the 2024 elections yield unfavorable results for Republicans who have advocated anti-transgender legislation, similar to the outcomes in 2022 and 2023, it could further argue against the political viability of making these bills a policy priority. Most importantly, transgender individuals in these states are granted the valuable gift of time to catch their breath following the relentless barrage of legislative efforts that have dominated political discourse over the past five years.

#us politics #West Virginia #protect trans lives #Erin Reed #in support of an informed and engaged electorate #your vote matters SO MUCH

[socialist-microwave-laser]

ANDY BESHEAR HAS OFFICIALLY BEEN REELECTED BARUCH HASHEM THANK YOU TO THE MOONS AND THE STARS AND TO EVERYBODY WHO VOTED TODAY JESUS FUCK THIS IS SUCH A SIGH OF RELIEF

#this is why i'll never be one of those people to tell others not to vote. things are not perfect. but at least we didn't get daniel fucking #cameron as the new governor #andy beshear #kentucky #election day #usamerican politics #kentucky politics #anarchist

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Christopher Weyant, The Boston Globe

* * * *

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

November 7, 2023

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

NOV 8, 2023

Today was Election Day across the country. In a number of key state elections, voters rejected the extremism of MAGA Republicans and backed Democrats and Democratic policies. 

Four of the most closely watched races were in Ohio, Virginia, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania.

In Ohio, voters enshrined the right of individuals to make their own healthcare decisions, including the right to abortion, into the state constitution. Opponents of abortion rights have worked hard since the summer to stop the measure from passing, trying first to make it more difficult to amend the constitution—voters overwhelmingly rejected that measure in an August special election—then by blanketing the state with disinformation about the measure, including through official state websites and with ads by former Fox News Channel personality Tucker Carlson, and finally by dropping 26,000 voters from the rolls. 

None of it worked. Voters protected the right to abortion. Since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision recognizing the constitutional right to abortion in June 2022, voters in all seven state elections where the issue was on the ballot have fought back to protect abortion rights. 

Today’s vote in Ohio, where the end of Roe v. Wade resurrected an extreme antiabortion bill, makes it eight.

Abortion was also on the ballot In Virginia, where the entire state legislature was up for grabs today. Republican governor Glenn Youngkin made it clear he wanted control of the legislature in order to push through a measure banning abortion after 15 weeks. This ploy was one Republicans were using to seem to soften their antiabortion stance, which has proven terribly unpopular. Youngkin was taking the idea out for a spin to see how it might play in a presidential election, perhaps with a hope of entering the Republican race for the presidential nomination as someone who could claim to have turned a blue state red. 

It didn’t work. Voters recognized that it was disingenuous to call a 15-week limit a compromise on the abortion issue, since most serious birth defects are not detected until 20 weeks into a pregnancy.

Going into the election, Democrats held the state senate. But rather than giving Youngkin control over both houses of the state legislature, voters left Democrats in charge of the Senate and flipped the House of Delegates over to the Democrats. The Democrats are expected to elevate House minority leader Don Scott of Portsmouth to the speakership, making him the first Black House speaker in Virginia history.  

Virginia voters also elevated Delegate Danica Roem, the first known transgender delegate, to the state senate. At the same time, voters in Loudoun County, which had become a hot spot in the culture wars with attacks on LGBTQ+ individuals and with activists insisting the schools must not teach critical race theory, rejected that extremism and turned control of the school board over to those who championed diversity and equity.

In Kentucky, voters reelected Democratic governor Andy Beshear, who was running against Republican state attorney general Daniel Cameron. A defender of Kentucky’s abortion ban, Cameron was also the attorney general who declined to bring charges against the law enforcement officers who killed Breonna Taylor in her bed in 2020 after breaking into her apartment in a mistaken search for drugs. 

In Pennsylvania, Democrat Daniel McCaffery won a supreme court seat, enabling the Democrats to increase their majority there. McCaffery positioned himself as a defender of abortion rights. 

There will be more news about election results and what they tell us in the coming days. Tonight, though, political analyst Tom Bonier wrote: “My biggest takeaway from tonight: in '22 abortion rights had the biggest impact where it was literally on the ballot, less so when trying to draw the connection in candidate races. That has changed. Voters clearly made the connection that voting for GOP candidates=abortion bans.”

—

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

#midterms #election day #abortion #reproductive freedom #a woman's right to choose #human rights #women's rights #civil rights #education #election #red states blue states #Letters From An American #Heather Cox Richardson

[gwydionmisha]

#Democrats #Andy Beshear #Kentucky #Election #News

[o-the-mts]

I would argue that in most cases the need to appease Manchin has caused Democrats to be politically weaker than they would have been if they just had to deal with a regular moderate Republican. If you have to make a deal with Romney, at least that deal gets the benefit of appearing “bipartisan.” With Manchin, the call is coming from inside the house: He forces Democrats to pass Republican-appeasing legislation but then own all of it, while the GOP gets much of what they want and remains unified in its unwillingness to govern. Biden, for instance, now has to run on an economic package made weaker by Manchin, and a child poverty rate made devastating by Manchin, and then get blamed for Manchin’s decisions. There’s also the sheer amount of time Democratic leaders have had to waste massaging Manchin’s mercurial political whims. Every second Biden or Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer has to spend begging Manchin to not stab America in the back is time they could have spent leaning on Romney, or Susan Collins, or just crafting a better, more unified message for the Democratic Party. And don’t even get me started on all the cash we’ve had to funnel to West Virginia in every budget package to secure Manchin’s vote. The biggest problem with Manchin is that he makes people think that being Joe Manchin is the only way for Democrats to win in red states. That’s just not the case. We have plenty of examples of moderate Democrats—be they Jon Tester in Montana, Sherrod Brown in Ohio, or freshly reelected Governor Andy Beshear in Kentucky—who run in red states as Democrats, and win. It’s hard. But it is possible. And it can be done without suffocating the planet in greenhouse emissions. The sooner the Democratic Party stops trying to run wannabe Republicans in red states, the better.

Goodbye, Joe Manchin—We Won’t Miss You | The Nation

#joe manchin #democratic party #fight for every seat in every state in every district on the best ideas and policies #no more conceding to the right #no more Republicrats

[nodynasty4us]

From the November 8, 2023 article:

Tuesday’s results were undeniably good for Democrats. But several strategists and officials who worked on this year’s successful campaigns said they fear there would now be a sense of complacency about November 2024 because of what happened in November 2023. Their victories, they warned, didn’t tell us much about the political future of the president, even if they turned on the same hot-button issues that might ultimately help him win again. Dan McCaffery, the Democrat who won Tuesday’s Pennsylvania Supreme Court contest, said the top issue in his race was “100 percent” abortion rights. A distant second was election denialism. Biden, he said, wasn’t a factor whatsoever. ... Democrats scored a number of breakthroughs Tuesday, from Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear holding on in a ruby-red state, to abortion rights prevailing in Ohio, to the party racking up victories in Virginia’s legislative races. But in the aftermath, a new set of fault lines has emerged over what to make of it. The most central question is whether it means that Biden’s poor polling in his own reelection campaign is a real sign of weakness or something closer to a mirage.

#democrats #2023 #joe biden #2024

[shadow13dickpistons]

Kentucky election results: Gov. Andy Beshear wins reelection https://www.npr.org/1209090515

Some good news, amid all this gloom.

#real life #politics #Andy beshear

[raginggrannies]

The Supreme Court may have dismantled Roe, but Americans want to preserve or restore Roe-like protections. This week, in addition to Ohio approving a ballot measure enshrining abortion protections in the state Constitution and effectively repealing a six-week ban, Virginia rejected Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s calls for a 15-week ban. Kentucky also reelected pro-abortion rights Gov. Andy Beshear, and Pennsylvania sent an abortion-rights supporter to the state Supreme Court. (Nov 10, 2023)

#protests #san francisco protest #abortion rights

[xlntwtch2]

AP News updated 11/8/23

"...Abortion rights supporters won an Ohio ballot measure and the Democratic governor of beet-red Kentucky held onto his office by campaigning on reproductive rights and painting his opponent as extremist. A Democrat won an open seat on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court after campaigning on his pledge to uphold abortion rights. And Democrats took full control of the Virginia statehouse, blocking Republicans from being able to pass new abortion restrictions and delivering a defeat to Gov. Glenn Youngkin that may douse any buzz about a late entry into the GOP presidential primary...."

#u.s. politics - voting matters

[cyarskj52]

[worldofwardcraft]

RNC in disarray.

February 8, 2024

The national committees of our two major political parties are both headquartered in Washington, DC and have pretty much the same function, i.e., to oversee party activities, including organizing the party’s national convention, developing its political platform, coordinating campaign strategies, and fundraising. And while the Democratic National Committee seems to be purring along nicely in collecting cash and electing Dems, its Republican counterpart has become nothing short of a shambles.

In recent years, the GOP has suffered a series of stunning electoral defeats, beginning with Donald Trump getting thumped by Joe Biden in 2020. It's interesting to note that the Party's convention that year was divided between two different cities. And that its official political platform was basically whatever Trump wants.

Now, with the takeover of the Party by Trump and his fanatical MAGA cult, it has not fared much better. Republicans expected a "red wave" blowout in the 2022 midterms, but failed to pick up the one seat they needed to capture control of the Senate (the Democrats clinched 50 seats). And while the GOP secured a majority in the House, their margin is so small and their members in such disorder that they've been unable to advance their agenda, even if they had one.

Results were even worse in the off-year 2023 elections. Here's ABC News reporting on them.

Republicans were handed a string of rebukes, from red-state Kentucky's projected move to reelect Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear to Virginia projected to elect Democratic majorities in both chambers of its state Legislature.

The RNC is also singularly unsuccessful at raising money. Its recent year-end filing reveals that 2023 was the worst fundraising year since 1993 in inflation-adjusted figures, reporting a piddling $8 million on hand and a shocking $1.8 million in debt.

Many are blaming these failures on RNC Chair Ronna Romney McDaniel (pictured above being reelected before a week later being rejected). She's Mitt's niece, by the way, but did away with the Romney (along with her self-respect) to please Trump when he picked her to lead the RNC in 2017. Remarked political consultant and writer Tim Miller,

It’s pretty astonishing that they have stuck with Ronna for over a half decade despite the fact that she has failed on every possible metric: electoral, moral, public relations, fundraising.

Last week, when asked how he thought his loyal minion McDaniel was doing, Trump replied that "there will probably be some changes made.” And yesterday she dutifully announced she would resign. But even with McDaniel gone, the committee's Trump-generated chaos is likely to remain.

#republican national committee #ronna mcdaniel #republican clown car

[when-the-cities-burn]

Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear sworn in for 2nd term in Republican-leaning Kentucky

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

November 8, 2023

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

NOV 9, 2023

Yesterday was a bad day for extremism in the United States of America. 

In Ohio, voters enshrined the right to abortion in the state constitution; in Kentucky, voters reelected Governor Andy Beshear, a Democrat, for another four-year term; in Pennsylvania, voters put Democrat Daniel McCaffery, who positioned himself as a defender of abortion rights, on the state supreme court; in Rhode Island, Gabe Amo, a former Biden staffer who emphasized his experience in the Biden White House, won an open seat in the House of Representatives to become Rhode Island’s first Black member of Congress; and nationwide, right-wing Moms4Liberty and anti-transgender-rights school board candidates tended to lose their races.

In Virginia, Governor Glenn Youngkin campaigned hard to flip the state senate to the Republicans, telling voters that if his party had control of the whole government he would push through a measure banning abortion after 15 weeks. This has been a ploy advanced by Republicans to suggest they are moderating their stance on abortion, and Youngkin appeared to be trying out the argument as a basis for a run for the presidency. 

But voters, who are still angry at the overturning of Roe v. Wade, which protected abortion rights until about 24 weeks, after fetal abnormalities are evident, rejected the suggestion they should settle for a smaller piece of what they feel has been taken from them by extremists on the Supreme Court. 

Today, Youngkin indicated he will not run for president in 2024.  

The Democrats who won have prioritized good governance, including the protection of fundamental reproductive rights. In Kentucky, Beshear focused on record economic growth in the state—in his first term he secured almost $30 billion in private-sector investments in the economy, creating about 49,000 full-time jobs—and his able handling of emergencies, as well as his support for education and, crucially, reproductive rights. 

In Virginia, Democrat Schuyler VanValkenburg beat incumbent Republican state senator Siobhan Dunnavant, the sponsor of a culture war “parents’ rights” law that was behind the removal of books from schools. While Dunnavant tried to convince voters that VanValkenburg, a high school history and government teacher, was in favor of showing pornography to high school students, he responded with a defense of teachers and an attack on book banning, reinforcing democratic principles. As Greg Sargent noted in the Washington Post, right-wing culture wars appear to be losing their potency as opponents emphasize American principles. 

In Ohio, exit polls showed that Republicans as well as Democrats backed the protection of reproductive rights. As Katie Paris of the voter mobilization group Red Wine and Blue put it: “Reproductive freedom and democracy are not partisan issues.” 

After such a rejection, a political party that supports democracy would accept its losses and rethink the message it was presenting to voters. But since the 1990s, far-right Republicans have insisted that election losses simply prove they have not moved far enough to the right. 

That pattern was in full view today as front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination Donald Trump explained away Republican Daniel Cameron’s loss in Kentucky by blaming it on Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who MAGA Republicans insist is too moderate. 

Cameron had tied himself closely to Trump, antiabortion, and the police officers who killed Breonna Taylor in her own home in a mistaken drug raid. Three days ago, Trump had said that Cameron had made “a huge surge” after Trump endorsed him and voters saw “he’s not really ‘a McConnell guy.’ They only try to label him that because he comes from the Great State of Kentucky.” Trump assured Cameron, “I will help you!”  

Now Trump blames McConnell. Right-wing podcast host Mark R. Levin echoed Trump when he told his 3.8 million followers on X that “RINOs have no winnable message.”

They are not alone in insisting that Republicans lost not because they are extremist but because they aren’t extremist enough. Georgia representative Marjorie Taylor Greene wrote that “Republicans are losing Republican voters because the base is fed up with weak Republicans who never do anything to actually stop the communist democrats…. The Republican Party is tone deaf and weak…. Republican voters are energized and can not wait to vote for President Trump…. [T]he Republican Party has only a short time to change their weak ways before they lose the base for years to come.”

It is worth remembering that just six days ago, House speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) called Greene a close friend and said he did not disagree with her on many issues.

Last night’s results highlight a key problem for the Republicans going into 2024. Their presumptive front-runner, former president Trump, is responsible for putting on the Supreme Court the justices who overturned Roe v. Wade and is on video saying he thinks that women who get abortions must be punished. That position has made him a hero with the party’s evangelical base, including lawmakers such as House speaker Johnson. But it is demonstrably unpopular in the general voting population. 

As writer Molly Jong-Fast said today: “Women don’t want to die for Mike Johnson’s religious beliefs.” 

Within MAGA Republicans’ refusal to admit that their far-right positions are unpopular is a disdain for those voters who disagree with them. Journalist Karen Kasler, who covers the Ohio statehouse, reported the statement of Republican Senate president Matt Huffman in the wake of yesterday’s election loss. "This isn't the end,” he said. “It is really just the beginning of a revolving door of ballot campaigns to repeal or replace Issue 1."

Ohio House speaker Jason Stephens’s statement more explicitly rejected the decision of 56.62% of Ohio voters. “I remain steadfastly committed to protecting life, and that commitment is unwavering,” he said. “The legislature has multiple paths that we will explore to continue to protect innocent life. This is not the end of the conversation.”

Later today, 27 of the 67 Ohio House Republicans signed a statement taking a stand against the abortion measure approved yesterday and vowing to “do everything in our power” to stop it. 

In a conversation on the right-wing cable show Newsmax, former senator Rick Santorum (R-PA) complained that young people turned out because there were “sexy things” on the ballot like abortion and marijuana. He warned: “[P]ure democracies are not the way to run a country.” 

The sentiment that it is not important to let everyone vote appeared to be at work yesterday in Mississippi, where at least nine precincts in Democratic-leaning Hinds County ran out of ballots. The most populous county in the state, Hinds County is 70% Black and includes the city of Jackson, which is almost 83% Black. Officials rushed to print more ballots, but the lines ballooned. After a judge tried to remedy the situation by extending the voting hours in the county by an hour, the Republican Party of Mississippi fought that order. 

Republican governor Tate Reeves won reelection.

There was, though, another blow to the Republicans yesterday: special counsel David Weiss, who has been investigating President Biden’s son Hunter for the past five years, undermined Republican conspiracy theories when he told the House Judiciary Committee that no one is interfering with his investigation and that he, alone, makes the decisions about it. 

Earlier this year, House Republicans produced an IRS employee who claimed that Biden administration officials had pressured the IRS to back off from the investigation. Weiss made it clear that accusation was wrong. “At no time was I blocked, or otherwise prevented from pursuing charges or taking the steps necessary in the investigation by other United States Attorneys, the Tax Division or anyone else at the Department of Justice,” he told the committee.

Nonetheless, in the wake of yesterday’s damaging election results, the chair of the House Oversight Committee, Representative James Comer (R-KY), today issued subpoenas to Hunter Biden and the president’s brother James.

—

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

#Heather Cox Richardson #Letters From An American #House Republicans #election 2023 #abortion rights #women's rights #education #reproductive rights

[thenewsart]

‘We must face this challenge’

Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear renewed his oath of office early Tuesday during a ceremony at Kentucky’s Capitol, launching his second term after notching a convincing reelection victory that could offer a roadmap for his party’s broader efforts to make inroads in Republican strongholds. Beshear, 46, was sworn in shortly after midnight before a gathering of family, friends and supporters — a…

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