Election lessons: Abortion delivers for Democrats from Ohio to Virginia to Kentucky

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2023/11/07/election-lessons-abortion-boosts-democrats-from-ohio-to-kentucky/ [login to see] 7/
The election returns Tuesday demonstrated that the success of Republicans in overturning a constitutional right to abortion continues to be a very costly victory.

In Kentucky, a solidly red state, Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear sailed to a second term after a campaign that focused front and center on abortion rights.

In Ohio, an increasingly reliable Republican state, voters by double digits approved an amendment enshrining access to abortion in the state constitution. That was a rebuke to Gov. Mike DeWine and the GOP-controlled Legislature, which had imposed a six-week ban as soon as the Supreme Court decision made that possible.

And in Virginia, GOP Gov. Glenn Youngkin had vowed to curb abortion if Republicans gained unified control of the state legislature. The GOP not only failed to flip the state senate but also lost control of the House of Delegates − a result that cost Youngkin a potential springboard to national ambitions.