November, 06 2018, 11:00pm EDT
WASHINGTON
In a referendum on the misogynistic, compassionless president, and increasing attacks on our reproductive freedom, women turned out at the polls and matched their previous high turnout in a midterm to elect Democrats in the House and governors across the country. This gives Democrats a chance to block and tackle the administration's anti-choice agenda by taking away their supermajority with a pro-choice House.
- With Roe under threat, last night's many state level wins are more important than ever
Democrats flipped Governor seats in Michigan (Gretchen Whitmer), Kansas (Laura Kelly), New Mexico (Michelle Lujan-Grisham), Maine (Janet Mills), Illinois (JB Pritzker), Nevada (Steve Sisolak), and Wisconsin (Tony Evers). Notably, Colorado, Minnesota, California and Oregon kept Democratic control of Governor seats with the election of Jared Polis, Tim Walz, Gavin Newsom and Kate Brown.
With Roe under threat, it will be up to state governments and their Governors to hold the line and keep the protections of Roe intact. State legislatures in Massachusetts and Oregon have repealed pre-Roe bans on abortion. With Gretchen Whitmer and Michelle Lujan Grisham as incoming governors, Michigan and New Mexico are poised to repeal their pre-Roe bans on abortion as well.
In Michigan, a state whose reproductive rights access is classified as "severely-restricted," a pro-choice governor could be instrumental in the repeal of mandatory delay and biased counseling restrictions, in addition to repealing the state's pre-Roe ban. For more info on Michigan, click here.
In addition to overturning New Mexico's pre-Roe ban, state legislators should repeal restrictions on abortion providers known as TRAP laws. For more info on New Mexico, click here.
Kansas, a state with "severely restricted" reproductive rights access, could see tremendous improvement in Kansans' access to reproductive rights through the repeal of both mandatory delays and biased counseling laws. For more info on Kansas, click here.
In Minnesota, the governor could also influence a repeal of restrictions on abortion access, including biased counseling and mandatory delay policies. For more info on Minnesota, click here.
Jared Polis in Colorado can work toward increasing abortion access. For more information on Colorado, click here.
In Maine, pro-choice leadership could repeal restrictions on who may provide abortion services, as well as policies that restrict certain women's ability to access abortion care. For more info on Maine, click here.
Voters also ushered in pro-choice victories at the state level which included:
- Resounding success in defeating Oregon's measure 106 by a 30 point margin. This initiative was nothing but a backdoor ban on abortion to restrict access only to those can afford to pay out of pocket. It would have set a dangerous precedent of cherry-picking which medical procedures will or will not be covered by public insurance and reduce access to healthcare.
- Democrats gained six "trifectas," or states where they control the governor's office and both chambers of the legislature, in CO, IL, ME, NV, NM, NY
- Democrats broke four Republican trifectas in KS, MI, NH and WI
- Democrats flipped state houses and senates: MN House, NH House, CO Senate, ME Senate, NY Senate
- Democrats broke anti-choice supermajorities in the NC House, NC Senate, MI senate and created new pro-choice supermajorities in the OR Senate and OR House.
2. Candidates who ran for the U.S. House on values such as reproductive freedom, access to affordable healthcare, the ability for women to make their own private health decisions, and women's equality had support from Americans in both traditionally red and blue states.
The House now a pro-choice majority. Support for Roe v. Wade is at an all-time high, with 71% of American voters believing that Roe should not be overturned. Seventy-one percent of independent voters and 83 percent of Democratic voters in the midterm election favor keeping Roe as it is, according to early results from an NBC News Exit Poll.
Majorities of white, black, and Latinx adults support legal abortion. We also know that 86% of Democratic voters, overall, oppose limiting abortion access. Investing in, engaging, and turning out these base voters has been, and will be, key to more victories in the future.
According to a recent Gallup poll, 74% of registered voters say the way that women are treated in US society is "extremely/very important" to them. A recent PRRI survey found that nearly half (47 percent) of Democrats said abortion is a critically important issue to them personally; 40 percent of Republicans said the same. That represents a dramatic 14 point swing since 2015. Democrats are almost twice as likely today to rate the issue as critical as they were in 2011.
A NARAL Suburban Women Polling Memo conducted by Public Policy Polling on behalf of NARAL Pro-Choice America found that a majority suburban women in key Congressional districts support abortion access, and are more likely to vote for candidates that will protect reproductive freedom. In fact, 78 percent of suburban women, a majority across all political parties, in key Congressional districts believe politicians should not prevent a woman from having an abortion if she chooses. Suburban women are turning their backs on the Republican party, in part to take control of Congress away from Trump.
Last night saw some important firsts as well:
- The first Indigenous women elected to Congress: Sharice Davids and Deb Haaland
- The first openly gay person elected governor: Jared Polis
- The first Muslim women elected to Congress: Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar
- The first openly lesbian woman elected mayor in Florida: Teri Johnston
This year's candidates were, as the New York Times said, "among the most diverse set to run in the history of the United States." More than a quarter of all the candidates who ran this year were female, including 84 women of color -- a 42 percent increase from 2016. In fact, white males made up 58% of the candidate pool, the lowest percentage in the last four elections.
3. Women voted in record numbers on a historically diverse set of candidates
Preliminary results show that 52 percent of voters were women, matching their previous high in a midterm from 2010. Exit polls also show that suburban women (which are growing increasingly more diverse) were divided 54-44 percent between Democratic and Republican House candidates. While white women swung left overall, they were instrumental in electing Ted Cruz with 59% of white women voting for Cruz and 94% of black women and 66% of Latino women voting for Beto O'Rourke.
Last night, nine women won governorship (AL, IA, KS, ME, MI, NM, OR, RI, SD) and five of them are new governors (KS, ME, MI, NM, SD).
Over 100 women were elected to Congress this election - even more than 1992's "Year of the Woman." In last night's midterms, 30 new women were elected to the House, 11 of whom are women of color.
The success of Abby Finkenauer and Cindy Axne means that they will be the first two women to ever represent Iowa in the House. Iowa is now controlled by a majority of female legislators at the federal level.
This election year motivated women on every level. Democratic women were more motivated to vote than any other group including Democratic men, Republican men, Republican women, independent men and independent women. A record number of women ran for seats in the House and won.
Republicans in traditionally secure seats had to fight this year.
Democrats also saw important gains at the state level. Maine, Michigan and Minnesota, three states that swung to the right in 2016, saw gubernatorial races that remained comfortably blue throughout the election. In July, the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee identified 17 key races where Democrats could flip eight state legislatures. Democratic wins like Virginia's powerful 2017 flip, will be critical to protect women if Roe v. Wade is overturned, and will pay dividends in fights for Medicaid expansion, protecting labor rights, and correcting harmful gerrymandering after the 2020 census.
4. NARAL's members were involved in this election like never before
NARAL members made over 1.1 million calls to voters in phone banks all across the country, knocked on nearly 350,000 doors, sent almost 2 million pieces of mail, made more than 343,000 text messages and held postcard parties, debate watch parties, and rallies in dozens of states.
NARAL members vote at rate of 90 percent, so much of NARAL's $5 million election program focused on not only mobilizing our members but expanding the number of pro-choice voters. NARAL's "Pro-Choice Majority Makers" program included TV and digital advertising, direct mail, and a campaign to educate and engage suburban women voters across the country to help them understand what's at stake if abortion is criminalized by anti-choice politicians.
Of the 31 House Democratic candidates who successfully flipped seats from Republicans, NARAL endorsed 28.
5. The Senate Was Always Slated to Stay in Republican Control, and the Kavanaugh battle contributed to this year's "Year of the Woman" in the House
- The 2018 map has always been daunting for Democrats.
There were 35 Senate seats up this election cycle. In order to flip the Senate, Democrats had to hold on to all 26 of their seats and win two of the nine Republican-held seats. Only one of those Republican seats was from a state that went to Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election, while 10 of the Democratic seats were in states that went to Trump. Democrats were victorious in the Nevada Senate race with the election of Jacky Rosen and the Montana Senate race with the re-election of Jon Tester.
- Kavanaugh's confirmation led to Democratic victories in the House
Exit polls show midterm voters opposed Kavanaugh's confirmation 48-43, showing that Kavanaugh's confirmation directly led to Democratic victories in the House driven by women candidates who were elected by historic numbers. The number of women elected candidates was even higher than 1992's "Year of the Woman" that was motivated by the Anita Hill. The margins by which Democrats who voted against Kavanaugh and lost their race (Heitkamp lost by 11, Donnelly by 10, McCaskill by 6) show that many factors contributed to their losses.
- Support for Roe v. Wade - a Key Issue in the Kavanaugh Debate - is at an All-Time High, and is Motivating Democratic Voters
NBC and the Wall Street Journal found that 71% of American voters believe that Roe should not be overturned, meaning that support for Roe has reached an all-time high. According to an Axios poll, 8 in 10 white suburban women support access to abortion as well.
Roe v. Wade was a critical pressure point during the Kavanaugh confirmation, which was only 30 days from the midterm elections. Seventy-one percent of independent voters and 83 percent of Democratic voters in the midterm election favor keeping Roe as it is, according to early results from an NBC News Exit Poll. This attention to pro-choice values and the threats against women's reproductive freedom will pay dividends in this and future elections.
Abortion has historically motivated Republicans more than Democrats, but recent polls are showing a shift. One PRRI survey found that 47 percent of Democrats say abortion is a critical issue to them compared to 40 percent of Republicans. In 2015, those numbers were 36 percent of Democrats and 43 percent of Republicans. A Pew poll found that abortion is becoming a central voting concern for Democrats. Sixty one percent of Democratic voters said abortion is very important to their vote this year, compared to 38 percent who said the same in 2008.
The Kavanaugh battle energized Democratic voters more than Republican voters, particularly women, who were instrumental in Democratic victories across the country, up and down the ballot.
NARAL Pro-Choice America fights for reproductive freedom for every body. Each day, we organize and mobilize to protect that freedom by fighting for access to abortion care, birth control, aid parental leave, and protections from pregnancy discrimination.
(202) 973-3000LATEST NEWS
Israeli Settlers, Soldiers 'Wiping Palestinian Communities Off the Map' in the West Bank
"While the attention of the world is focused on Gaza, abuses in the West Bank, fueled by decades of impunity and complacency among Israel's allies, are soaring."
Apr 17, 2024
Israeli soldiers have either passively watched or participated in the uprooting of at least seven communities in the West Bank since October of last year, Human Rights Watch said Wednesday in a new report documenting surging settler violence in the occupied Palestinian territory.
The rights group interviewed dozens of eyewitnesses and examined video footage showing harassment and other abuse of Palestinians in the West Bank "by men in Israeli military uniforms carrying M16 assault rifles."
Following the Hamas-led October 7 attack on southern Israel, the Israeli military drafted more than 5,000 settlers into "regional defense" units in the West Bank, Haaretzreported earlier this year. The Israeli newspaper noted that "alongside this large-scale mobilization, the [Israel Defense Forces] has distributed some 7,000 weapons to the battalions as well as to settlers who were not recruited into the army but received them as civilians whom the army considers eligible to carry military arms."
HRW's investigation found that "armed settlers, with the active participation of army units, repeatedly cut off road access and raided Palestinian communities, detained, assaulted, and tortured residents, chased them out of their homes and off their lands at gunpoint or coerced them to leave with death threats, and blocked them from taking their belongings."
"Israeli settlers and soldiers are literally wiping Palestinian communities off the map," said Omar Shakir, HRW's Israel and Palestine director.
"While the attention of the world is focused on Gaza, abuses in the West Bank, fueled by decades of impunity and complacency among Israel’s allies, are soaring."
The new report comes days after Israeli settlers—escorted by IDF soldiers—went on their latest destructive and deadly rampage in the West Bank, killing at least two Palestinians, injuring dozens, and setting homes and vehicles ablaze. At least 20 households were displaced after Israeli settlers burned down their homes.
The wave of settler violence came after a missing 14-year-old Israeli boy was found dead in the area around the West Bank city of Ramallah. The Israeli military said the boy was killed in a "terrorist attack."
Since October 7, according to the United Nations, Israeli settlers have launched more than 720 attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank, displacing at least 206 households comprised of 1,244 people—including 603 children. Israeli soldiers in uniform have been present at many of the attacks.
"Settlers and soldiers have displaced entire Palestinian communities, destroying every home, with the apparent backing of higher Israeli authorities," Bill Van Esveld, associate children's rights director at HRW, said in a statement Wednesday. "While the attention of the world is focused on Gaza, abuses in the West Bank, fueled by decades of impunity and complacency among Israel's allies, are soaring."
HRW's new report examines five West Bank communities that have come under attack by Israeli settlers, including one in which uniformed Israeli men armed with assault rifles entered tents and destroyed or stole people's belongings, abused residents, and threatened to kill them if they didn't leave the area.
"One man in uniform kicked me in the back of my neck," a Palestinian mother told HRW. "They said, 'Go to the valley, and if you come back, we will kill you.'"
None of the families forcibly evicted from the five communities examined in the HRW report have been allowed to return home.
"Palestinian children have seen their families brutalized, and their homes and schools destroyed, and the Israeli authorities are ultimately to blame," Van Esveld said Wednesday. "Senior state officials are fueling or failing to prevent these attacks, and Israel's allies are not doing enough to stop that."
Following the latest wave of settler violence in the West Bank this past weekend, a coalition of human rights organizations said in a joint statement Wednesday that "the international community must swiftly and decisively pressure the government of Israel to halt these attacks and urgently de-escalate the situation."
"With international attention centered on Gaza, the government of Israel has not only allowed settler violence to spiral but also persisted in the expansion of Israeli settlements built on Palestinian land and unlawfully seized Palestinian territory by designating it as 'state land,' blatantly violating international law," the groups noted. "Concerted efforts are needed to tackle the root cause of settler violence by permanently dismantling settlement outposts and ensuring the safe return of displaced Palestinians to their lands."
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Wyden Says Spying Bill Would Force Americans to Become an 'Agent for Big Brother'
"If you have access to any communications, the government can force you to help it spy," said Sen. Ron Wyden.
Apr 17, 2024
Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden took to the floor of the U.S. Senate on Tuesday to speak out against a chilling mass surveillance bill that lawmakers are working to rush through the upper chamber and send to President Joe Biden's desk by the end of the week.
The measure in question would reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) for two years and massively expand the federal government's warrantless surveillance power by requiring a wide range of businesses and individuals to cooperate with spying efforts.
"If you have access to any communications, the government can force you to help it spy," said Wyden (Ore.), referring to an amendment that was tacked on to the legislation by the U.S. House last week with bipartisan support. "That means anyone with access to a server, a wire, a cable box, a Wi-Fi router, a phone, or a computer. So think for a moment about the millions of Americans who work in buildings and offices in which communications are stored or pass through."
"After all, every office building in America has data cables running through it," the senator continued. "The people are not just the engineers who install, maintain, and repair our communications infrastructure; there are countless others who could be forced to help the government spy, including those who clean offices and guard buildings. If this provision is enacted, the government can deputize any of these people against their will, and force them in effect to become what amounts to an agent for Big Brother—for example, by forcing an employee to insert a USB thumb drive into a server at an office they clean or guard at night."
Wyden said the process "can all happen without any oversight whatsoever: The FISA Court won't know about it, Congress won't know about it. Americans who are handed these directives will be forbidden from talking about it. Unless they can afford high-priced lawyers with security clearances who know their way around the FISA Court, they will have no recourse at all."
Wyden's remarks came after the Senate narrowly approved a motion Tuesday to proceed to the FISA reauthorization bill ahead of Section 702's expiration at the end of the week. The Oregon senator, an outspoken privacy advocate, was among the seven members of the Democratic caucus who voted against the procedural motion.
Despite its grave implications for civil liberties, the bill has drawn relatively little vocal opposition in the Senate. A final vote could come as soon as Thursday.
Titled Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act (RISAA), the legislation passed the Republican-controlled House last week after lawmakers voted down an amendment that would have added a search warrant requirement to Section 702.
The authority allows U.S. agencies to spy on non-citizens located outside of the country, but it has been abused extensively by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and National Security Agency to collect the communications of American lawmakers, activists, journalists, and others without a warrant.
Privacy advocates warn RISAA would dramatically expand the scope of Section 702 by broadening the kinds of individuals and businesses required to participate in government spying. A key provision of the bill would mandate cooperation from "electronic communications service providers" such as Google, Verizon, and AT&T as well as "any other service provider who has access to equipment that is being or may be used" to transmit or store electronic communications.
That would mean U.S. intelligence agencies could, without a warrant, compel gyms, grocery stores, barber shops, and other businesses to hand over communications data.
"In the face of the pervasive past misuse of Section 702, the last thing Americans need is a large expansion of government surveillance," Caitlin Vogus, deputy director of advocacy at Freedom of the Press Foundation, wrote in an op-ed for The Guardian on Tuesday. "The Senate should reject the House bill and refuse to reauthorize Section 702 without a warrant requirement. Lawmakers must demand reforms to put a stop to unjustified government spying on Americans."
Wyden said during his floor speech Tuesday that some of his colleagues "say they aren't worried about President Biden abusing these authorities."
"In that case, how about [former President Donald] Trump? Imagine these authorities in his hands," said Wyden. "If you're worried about having a president who lives to target vulnerable Americans, to pit Americans against each other, to find every conceivable way to punish perceived enemies, you ought to find this bill terrifying."
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House Dems Voice 'Deep Concern' Over Biden Claim That Israel Is Legally Using US Arms
A letter from 26 lawmakers notes the "stark differences and gaps" between what Biden administration officials say and the opinions of "prominent experts and global institutions" accusing Israel of genocide.
Apr 16, 2024
More than two dozen House Democrats on Tuesday challenged the Biden administration's claim that Israel is using U.S.-supplied weapons in compliance with domestic and international law—an assertion made amid an ongoing World Court probe of "plausibly" genocidal Israeli policies and practices in Gaza.
Citing "mounting credible and deeply troubling reports and allegations" of human rights crimes committed by Israeli troops in Gaza and soldiers and settlers in the occupied West Bank, 26 congressional Democrats led by Texas Reps. Veronica Escobar—who co-chairs President Joe Biden's reelection campaign—and Joaquin Castro asked U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines "whether and how" their agencies determined Israel is lawfully using arms provided by Washington.
"We write to express our deep concern regarding the U.S. Department of State's recent comments regarding assurances from the Israeli government, under National Security Memorandum (NSM) 20, that the Israeli government is using U.S.-origin weapons in full compliance with relevant U.S. and international law and is not restricting the delivery of humanitarian assistance," the lawmakers wrote in a letter to the Cabinet members.
The letter acknowledges the "grave concerns" of institutions and experts around the world regarding Israel's "conduct throughout the war in Gaza, its policies regarding civilian harm and military targeting, unauthorized expansion of settlements and settler violence in the West Bank, and potential use of U.S. arms by settlers, in additional to limitations on humanitarian aid supported by the U.S."
The legislators noted Israeli attacks on aid convoys, workers, and recipients—like the February 29 "
Flour Massacre" in which nearly 900 starving Palestinians were killed or wounded at a food distribution site—and "the closure of vital border crossings" as Gazan children starve to death as causes for serious concern.
While the lawmakers didn't mention the International Court of Justice's January 26
preliminary finding that Israel is "plausibly" committing genocide in Gaza, their letter highlights the "stark differences and gaps in the statements" made by Biden administration officials and "those made by prominent experts and global institutions"—many of whom accuse Israel of genocide.
The lawmakers' letter came amid reports of fresh Israeli atrocities, including a drone strike on a playground in the Maghazi refugee camp in northern Gaza that killed at least 11 children. Eyewitnesses described a "horrific scene of children torn apart."
While Biden has called out Israel's "indiscriminate bombing" in Gaza—much of it carried out using U.S.-supplied warplanes and munitions including 2,000-pound bombs that can level whole city blocks—his administration has approved more than 100 arms sales to Israel, has repeatedly sidestepped Congress to fast-track emergency armed aid, and is seeking to provide the key ally with billions of dollars in addition weaponry atop the nearly $4 billion it gets annually from Washington.
This, despite multiple federal laws—and the administration's own rules— prohibiting U.S. arms transfers to human rights violators.
According to Palestinian and international officials, more than 110,000 Palestinians have been killed or wounded by Israeli forces since October 7. Most of the dead are women and children. At least 7,000 Palestinians are also missing and presumed dead and buried beneath the rubble of hundreds of thousands of bombed-out homes and other buildings.
Around 90% of Gaza's 2.3 million people have been forcibly displaced in what many Palestinians are calling a second Nakba, a reference to the ethnic cleansing of over 750,000 Arabs from Palestine during the establishment of the modern state of Israel in 1948.
A growing number of not only progressive lawmakers but also mainstream Democrats are calling for a suspension of U.S. military aid to Israel.
On Tuesday, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)—who was criticized earlier in the war for not calling for a cease-fire—stood beside a photo of a starving Gazan girl while declaring "no more money for" the far-right government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his "war machine."
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