When the right to choose an abortion is on the ballot, it wins. And it will keep winning for the rest of the decade until the right to abortion is secured state by state in all but the deepest red states and the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision is rendered moot.
The latest evidence? On Tuesday, the liberal Milwaukee circuit court judge, Janet Protasiewicz, scored a solid victory over the conservative candidate Daniel Kelly in a race whose outcome would determine the majority on the Wisconsin Supreme Court and pave the way for overturning the 1849 law outlawing abortion.
This race is but the latest example of the power this issue has to upend American politics. It happened first in August 2022 when a referendum on the primary ballot in Kansas would have amended the state constitution to make abortion illegal. Turnout was high — more votes were cast (980,000) than in any primary election in Kansas history. In a state Donald Trump won by 15 points, the anti-abortion referendum lost 59% to 41%. The larger more urban counties rejected the referendum by large margins and in the rural counties where it won it won by narrow margins.
And now Wisconsin...
About those deep red states --
... Red states are sinking deeper into virulent far-right culture-warring — banning books, limiting classroom discussion of race and gender and prohibiting gender-affirming care for transgender youth. GOP legislatures passing these things were of course legitimately elected by majorities, though in some cases gerrymanders increase their power.
Those legislatures are also finding onerous ways to use power to tamp down on the unexpectedly ferocious dissent their culture war has unleashed among numerical minorities, largely concentrated in cities and suburbs inside red states. As analyst Ron Brownstein argues, this often pits an overwhelmingly White, older, rural and small-town Republican coalition against an increasingly diverse, younger and more urban coalition.
“These Republican legislatures are stacking sandbags against a rising tide,” Brownstein told CNN. Call it the GOP retreat into Fortress MAGA.
This takes many forms. Republican state legislatures have become particularly aggressive in pushing “preemption” laws restricting cities and counties from making their own rules or policy choices. In some cases, these could functionally block those localities from governing themselves democratically in more socially liberal ways on all kinds of issues. [snip]
Yet this retreat into Fortress MAGA faces a problem: Whenever state-level Republicans undertake another reactionary lurch, it often goes national in a big way. Attention has poured down on everything from insanely broad book bans to shockingly harsh proposed punishments for abortion to anti-transgender crackdowns with truly creepy implications.
If the adage was “all politics is local,” we can now say that “all local politics is in danger of going viral.” And the more onerous the use of state power in these situations, the more attention it gets...
Tennessee. Florida. And, of course, Texas --
On Friday, a Texas jury unanimously convicted Daniel Perry, a man who shot and killed a Black Lives Matter protester in the summer of 2020. While Texas prides itself as a "stand your ground" state—hence all the recent mass murders—Perry's act of murder appeared to be brazenly premeditated. In social media posts Perry sneered that he might "kill a few people on my way to work. They are rioting outside my apartment complex" and that he "might go to Dallas to shoot looters." He argued with a friend over whether that would be legal; that friend warned him that "we went through the same training" and "Shooting after creating an event where you have to shoot" is "not a good shoot."
Two weeks later Perry ran a red light and "accelerated" into a Black Lives Matter protest in Austin, Texas. As protesters approached Perry rolled down his window and emptied his handgun at 28 year old Air Force veteran Garrett Foster, who was legally carrying an AK-47 rifle. Perry would tell police afterwards that Foster was raising his weapon; none of the witnesses at the scene agreed. The Texas jury determined that Perry had intentionally murdered Foster.
Within 24 hours, Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott took to social media himself to vow that he would pardon Daniel Perry as "swiftly" as he is able to. "Texas has one of the strongest 'Stand Your Ground' laws of self-defense that cannot be nullified by a jury or a progressive District Attorney," tweeted Abbott. Abbott announced that he had already requested the Board of Pardons and Paroles to review Perry's conviction and "instructed the Board to expedite its review...
For anyone needing an occasional reminder of the lawless, fascist nature of the Republican/ Seditionist/ Shooters Party, the Texas of smarmy Greg Abbott is right up there with Bootsie's "Florida freedom" fascist paradise and the Republican- legislature- gerrymandered Wisconsin.
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