Biden, Democrats cheer Ohio’s abortion rights vote; Kentucky Gov. Beshear wins reelection | Follow live updates
Off-year elections Tuesday will decide governors in Kentucky and Mississippi, the fate of abortion and marijuana amendments in Ohio, legislative control in Virginia and mayoral races in two of the nation’s biggest cities. Follow along for the latest updates.
National Democrats applaud Ohio’s abortion vote
President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are cheering Ohio’s vote to ensure access to abortion and other forms of reproductive health care.
Carolyn Kaster, Associated Press
Lauren Miracle, right, holds her son Dawson, 1, as she helps her daughter Oaklynn, 3, fill out a child's practice ballot before voting herself Tuesday at a polling location in the Washington Township House in Oregonia, Ohio.
Biden said in a statement Tuesday that “democracy won” in Ohio. The Democratic president says the state’s voters rejected “attempts by MAGA Republican elected officials to impose extreme abortion bans that put the health and lives of women in jeopardy.”
Harris used the win in Ohio to call for Congress to pass a bill restoring the federal abortion protections that were lost after the reversal of Roe v. Wade.
She said in a statement, “When they do, President Biden will sign it into law.”
Uvalde mom who lost mayoral race says she’ll never stop fighting
An Uvalde mother who lost her bid for mayor says she’ll never stop fighting for her daughter, Lexi, who was among the 19 children killed in last year’s school shooting rampage.
“I meant it when I said this was only the beginning,” Kimberly Mata-Rubio posted on X, formerly known as Twitter. “After all, I’m not a regular mom. I’m Lexi’s mom.”
She lost to Cody Smith, a former mayor of Uvalde who left office in 2012. He will complete the term of Mayor Don McLaughlin, who criticized police in Texas over their hesitant response to the shooting and is resigning to seek a seat in the state legislature.
Ohio becomes 7th state to protect abortion rights in post-Roe era
With Tuesday’s vote to enshrine abortion rights into its state constitution, Ohio is the seventh state where voters have protected abortion access since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year.
Voters in both Democratic and Republican states — California, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Montana and Vermont — have either affirmed abortion access or turned back attempts to undermine it.
Ohio was the only state to consider a statewide abortion rights question this year, and some view its decision as a signal of how voters nationwide will be feeling about the issue ahead of the 2024 presidential race.
Ohio’s constitutional amendment, on the ballot as Issue 1, included some of the most protective language for abortion access of any statewide ballot initiative since the Supreme Court’s ruling.
Beshear says his win shows voters’ disdain for ‘anger politics’
Democratic Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear says his reelection victory “sends a loud, clear message” that there should be an end to “anger politics.”
Beshear said in his victory remarks on Tuesday that Kentucky voters had made “a choice not to move to the right or to the left but to move forward for every single family.”
Beshear defeated Republican challenger Daniel Cameron, who had been endorsed by former President Donald Trump. Beshear said he had been up against a number of GOP-funded, third-party groups that were running ads “full of hate and division.”
“And you know what?” Beshear asked. “We beat ’em all at the same time.”
All in the (Beshear) family
Greg Eans, The Messenger-Inquirer via AP
Kentucky Governor and Democratic candidate for re-election Andy Beshear, right, is introduced to supporters by his father, former Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear, during a campaign stop Saturday in Owensboro, Ky.
It’s officially a two-term trend for the Beshear family.
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear has joined his father, Steve Beshear, as a twice-elected top Democratic leader of the state.
The younger Beshear won his second term Tuesday by defeating Republican Attorney General Daniel Cameron. With it, Andy Beshear is also positioning himself to join a growing list of Democratic governors flagged as potential contenders for higher office nationally.
By the end of Andy Beshear’s second four-year term, a Beshear will have presided in the Kentucky governor’s office for 16 of the last 20 years. Steve Beshear served from 2007 to 2015.
Amo makes history as Rhode Island’s first Black congressman
Democrat Gabe Amo says that he’s “humbled” to be elected Rhode Island’s first Black representative to Congress but that he “didn’t run to make history.”
Kris Craig, Providence Journal via AP
Democrat Gabe Amo gives both thumbs up to the room full of election night supporters Tuesday at The Guild in Pawtucket, R.I., after winning Rhode Island’s 1st Congressional District seat. The former White House aide will become the state’s first Black candidate elected to the U.S. House.
Amo told The Associated Press shortly after his win over Republican Gerry Leonard on Tuesday that he sees himself as part of a long line of advocates, whether they were people of color or fighting for the rights of woman or working people.
The former White House aide succeeds former Democratic Rep. David Cicilline, who stepped down this summer to become president and CEO of the Rhode Island Foundation.
The son of Ghanaian and Liberian immigrants, Amo emerged victorious from a crowded Democratic field in the September primary, claiming more than 32% of the vote.
2 Council members arrested on Election Day in separate incidents
Two Democrats on the 20-member Bridgeport, Connecticut, City Council have been arrested in separate incidents at the same polling place on Election Day.
A police spokesperson says Councilmember Samia Suliman was charged with breach of peace after police received a 911 call late Tuesday afternoon about a person causing a disturbance outside the John F. Kennedy School.
Less than an hour later, police arrested Councilmember Maria Pereira and charged her with assaulting a 70-year-old woman on the same school property. Pereira was on the ballot Tuesday.
Police didn’t explain the circumstances of either arrest and declined to say how Suliman disturbed the peace.
Text messages seeking comment from the women were not immediately returned.
Mood somber at polling places in Maine
Less than two weeks after 18 people were killed by a gunman in their small New England city, residents headed gingerly cast ballots Tuesday for a slate of municipal races in an election that took on a more subdued and somber tone after the tragedy.
The mood in Lewiston, Maine, was somber. Several shooting survivors remained hospitalized, flags flew at half-staff, and funerals were being held this week for those who died in the attack.
Citing civic duty and a quest to return the community to normal life, Lewiston residents turned out to vote in several high-profile referendums and local races.
“This is a necessity. We have to do this. So we can’t neglect it even though we’ve been through a terrible tragedy,” said James Scribner, 79, a retired teacher and Marine veteran, who was joined by his wife at local school that was transformed into a polling place.
Swifties to the polls!
Taylor Swift is encouraging her pack of Swifties to head to the polls on Election Day.
“Voters gonna vote!” Swift wrote in a post to her 275 million Instagram followers, riffing off the lyrics to her hit single “Shake It Off.”
In the post, she encouraged those registered to vote in Colorado, Kentucky, Maine, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas and Virginia to “use your voice” and directed them to the nonpartisan voter advocacy group Vote.org for more information.
