{"id":1316758,"date":"2023-11-07T17:23:26","date_gmt":"2023-11-07T17:23:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/?p=450306"},"modified":"2023-11-07T17:23:26","modified_gmt":"2023-11-07T17:23:26","slug":"do-voters-care-more-about-online-sex-than-abortion-rights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2023\/11\/07\/do-voters-care-more-about-online-sex-than-abortion-rights\/","title":{"rendered":"Do Voters Care More About Online Sex Than Abortion Rights?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><span class=\"has-underline\">A handful of<\/span> states are holding important elections today \u2014 some of which have gotten a bit of media attention, others which are flying under the radar. Here\u2019s what to watch, and, if you\u2019re in any of these states or know people who are, here\u2019s what to look for at the ballot box:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-ohio\"><strong>Ohio<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>This summer, Ohio Republicans tried to change the rules so that it would take a 60 percent threshold to amend the constitution because a measure to enshrine <strong>abortion rights<\/strong> was polling in the high 50s. <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2023\/08\/24\/abortion-ban-laws-democracy\/\">That effort failed<\/a>, meaning <strong>abortion access \u2014 which is on the ballot today \u2014 only needs a bare majority<\/strong>, and it should win comfortably. <strong>Pot legalization<\/strong> <strong>and regulation<\/strong> is also on the ballot and expected to prevail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Maine<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The Pine Tree State will vote on <strong>a ballot measure that would seize control of the two state utility monopolies and combine them into the publicly owned Pine Tree Power<\/strong>, which would be operated by an elected board. \u201cBy Mainers, for Mainers,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/pinetreepower.org\/?playlist=d134d74&amp;video=9e70c41\">as their slogan goes<\/a>. Advocates are promising lower prices, fewer outages, and local control. The measure has been endorsed by major environmental groups, which see it as part of a just transition to a clean energy future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The unknown is just how scared voters are of the unknown. Will they stick with the status quo, which nobody really likes, or seize the moment? That depends on whether the public still believes in its democratic, collective ability to do big things together. The spending against the proposal has predictably been massive, and <strong>Democratic Gov. Janet Mills<\/strong> is against it, so it\u2019s not looking good, but not impossible either.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!-- BLOCK(promote-post)[0](%7B%22componentName%22%3A%22PROMOTE_POST%22%2C%22entityType%22%3A%22SHORTCODE%22%2C%22optional%22%3Atrue%7D)(%7B%22slug%22%3A%22politics-with-ryan-grim%22%2C%22crop%22%3A%22promo%22%7D) -->\n<aside class=\"promote-banner\">\n  <a class=\"promote-banner__link\" href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/collections\/politics-with-ryan-grim\">\n          <span class=\"promote-banner__image\">\n        <img width=\"300\" height=\"157\" src=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Politics-With-Ryan-Grim-promo.png?fit=300%2C157&#038;resize=300%2C157\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" srcset=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Politics-With-Ryan-Grim-promo.png?w=1201 1201w, https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Politics-With-Ryan-Grim-promo.png?w=300 300w, https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Politics-With-Ryan-Grim-promo.png?w=768 768w, https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Politics-With-Ryan-Grim-promo.png?w=1024 1024w, https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Politics-With-Ryan-Grim-promo.png?w=540 540w, https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Politics-With-Ryan-Grim-promo.png?w=1000 1000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/>      <\/span>\n        <div class=\"promote-banner__text\">\n              <p class=\"promote-banner__eyebrow\">\n          Regular Updates on News and Politics         <\/p>\n      \n      <h2 class=\"promote-banner__title\">Politics With Ryan Grim<\/h2>\n    <\/div>\n  <\/a>\n<\/aside>\n<!-- END-BLOCK(promote-post)[0] -->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Mississippi<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Republican Tate Reeves<\/strong>, the flush-faced fella from Mississippi who <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/samstein\/status\/1721898263044100348\">people love to say looks just like me<\/a>, is facing a robust challenge from <strong>Democrat Brandon Presley<\/strong>, who\u2019s most famous for being Elvis\u2019s cousin. The non-Elvis Presley has been repeatedly elected to the state\u2019s Public Services Commission from a Republican district and was also a popular mayor. <strong>If anybody can beat a Republican in Mississippi, it\u2019s this Presley \u2014 but it might be that nobody can beat a Republican.<\/strong> Some polls have it close, others have my doppelganger comfortably ahead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Virginia<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The House and Senate are both up for grabs. If <strong>Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin<\/strong> wins a trifecta, not only does he become a major White House threat, but <strong>he\u2019ll also have the opportunity to do an enormous amount of culture war legislating \u2014 including passing abortion restrictions<\/strong> \u2014 along with traditional Republican stuff like cutting taxes on businesses and the wealthy.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The most interesting individual race to watch is <strong>Democrat Susanna Gibson<\/strong> running in the 57th House district representing the Richmond suburbs. She\u2019s the one caught up in a scandal: <strong>Republican operatives discovered she was doing sex on camera with her husband<\/strong> and streaming it on the website Chaturbate, and they fed the dirt to the Washington Post. The Post hilariously (and erroneously) dinged her for violating the website\u2019s terms of service. (<a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2023\/09\/25\/chaturbate-susanna-gibson-washington-post\/\">She didn\u2019t<\/a>, if that\u2019s the part that had you bothered.) Democrats have largely stopped funding her campaign, but the race asks a question I can\u2019t wait to learn the answer to: <strong>Do voters care about<em> this<\/em> more than they care about abortion rights?<\/strong> After all, it\u2019s consensual adult behavior, nobody got hurt, nobody was watching who didn\u2019t want to. And for those with traditional values, hey, it was even with her husband. What\u2019s the problem?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If Gibson prevails, look for Democrats to win both chambers. That makes her race the one to watch \u2014 and you don\u2019t even have to pay. (<a href=\"https:\/\/join.theintercept.com\/donate\/now\/\">Tips are of course accepted.<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Pennsylvania<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>A state Supreme Court election on Tuesday could narrow Democrats\u2019 majority ahead of a critical year for<strong> issues from abortion to election integrity<\/strong>. Spending on the election has topped $17 million, with committees tied to <strong>Pennsylvania billionaire <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2023\/02\/16\/israel-jeff-yass-kohelet\/\">Jeff Yass<\/a><\/strong> pouring money in to back <strong>Republican candidate Carolyn Carluccio<\/strong>. With the state party in disarray, Democrats are betting that <strong>Superior Court Judge Dan McCaffery\u2019s support for abortion rights <\/strong>will be enough to win the race. But expectations of low turnout, particularly in Philadelphia, amplified by growing frustration with President Joe Biden, have the party on edge.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Pittsburgh voters in Allegheny County will have a say in <strong>the latest battle between reformers and \u201ctough-on-crime\u201d prosecutors<\/strong>. <strong>Matt Dugan<\/strong>, the county\u2019s former chief public defender, beat 25-year incumbent, <strong>Stephen A. Zappala Jr.<\/strong>, by 11 percentage points in the May primary and became the Democratic nominee for county district attorney. Zappala switched parties so that he could face Dugan again on Tuesday, gathering enough write-in-votes to become the GOP nominee in the race.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 2018,<strong> Summer Lee and Sara Innamorato<\/strong>, with the support of the Democratic Socialists of America, unseated two incumbent cousins in the Pennsylvania state house, Dom and Paul Costa \u2014 shocking upsets that flowed from the same current that lifted the Squad to federal office that year. Lee won election to Congress in 2022, and this year, Innamorato won the Democratic nomination for <strong>Allegheny County executive<\/strong>, the most powerful position in western Pennsylvania, with control over a budget in the billions, plus oversight of local elections. Given the partisan lean of the area, there generally isn\u2019t a competitive general election. In fact, after beating her Costa in 2018, Innamorato ran unopposed in the general election (aside from a write-in campaign by Costa).&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This year is different. Republicans have nominated <strong>Joe Rockey<\/strong> \u2014 heavily backed by the aforementioned Yass \u2014 a former banker running as an old-school moderate, pro-business Republican. The county executive has very little say over abortion policy and zero over Gaza, but<strong> Innamorato is hammering Rockey on abortion and Rockey is hitting her back on Israel\u2013Palestine.<\/strong> Innamorato left the DSA in 2019 (Lee left in 2018), but Rockey has hammered her for the connection, demanding she condemn both Hamas (which she did) and DSA for not sufficiently condemning Hamas (which <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Innamo\/status\/1712204358538891289\">she also did<\/a>).&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She also distanced herself again from <strong>the DSA<\/strong>. \u201cI haven\u2019t been affiliated with the DSA since 2019,\u201d she noted. \u201cI urge my opponent to stay focused on who is actually being harmed in the conflict in Israel and Gaza instead of trying to score cheap political points off of people\u2019s pain.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If Innamorato loses, it\u2019ll be seen as a rebuke to the left, and a warning shot fired at Lee, and it\u2019ll position Rockey as a credible threat for governor or Senate. Plus, look for tax cuts for wealthy homeowners and an erosion of the area\u2019s tax base.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If Innamorato wins, she is pledging to focus on affordable housing, clean water, and other progressive priorities. But in our weird system, the race may come down to how voters feel about Gaza \u2014 or how they feel about how other people feel about Gaza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Kentucky&nbsp;<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Gov. <strong>Andy Beshear<\/strong>, a Democrat, is up for reelection in Kentucky, facing Mitch McConnell prot\u00e9g\u00e9 <strong>Daniel Cameron<\/strong>, the state\u2019s attorney general. Polls are <a href=\"https:\/\/projects.fivethirtyeight.com\/polls\/governor\/2023\/kentucky\/\">extremely tight<\/a>, and Beshear has the <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/kentucky-governor-race-abortion-pandemic-beshear-cameron-508573d2aeb8d8ab4039dbd834609519\">support of enough Trump voters<\/a> that he might hold on. If Beshear edges it out, he instantly becomes a national political contender. (Which, by the way, is absurd. Should losing by a few thousand votes versus winning by a few thousand votes be the difference in whether he\u2019s a viable presidential candidate?)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>New Jersey&nbsp;<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The American right has been trying to win elections on culture war issues for as long as there\u2019s been an identifiable right wing in our politics, though what those culture war issues are is endlessly up for grabs. In 2021, Republicans felt like they <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2021\/11\/15\/democrats-voters-virginia-glenn-youngkin\/\">cracked the culture code in Virginia<\/a>, electing <strong>Glenn Youngkin<\/strong> on the back of anger at school districts over a scandal involving gender, bathroom access, and a high-profile assault. Youngkin claimed the mantle of a \u201cparents movement\u201d that wanted more say in curriculum and in the books in libraries.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now Republicans think they\u2019ve successfully <a href=\"https:\/\/www.northjersey.com\/story\/news\/education\/2023\/11\/01\/parental-rights-issue-nj-school-board-elections\/71258624007\/\">rerun that campaign on steroids in New Jersey,<\/a> based on anger at school boards over <strong>the question of whether schools must notify parents if their children go through a social gender transition at school.<\/strong> Based on existing law, schools do not have to alert parents. That law was passed largely with sexual orientation in mind, and the idea was that a student ought to be able to confide in a sympathetic teacher and should be able to come out to their parents at a time of their own choosing.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Parent groups today in New Jersey have argued to school boards that the law ought to treat sexual orientation and gender transition differently<\/strong>, given that the latter is \u2014 at least as is currently understood in some corners \u2014 related to gender dysphoria, which is by definition related to mental health, which is not the case for sexual orientation. And if mental health is involved, any treatment, including social transition, ought to be implemented in coordination with parents, the argument goes. Democrats have tried to strike a balance on the question, not wanting to repeat Terry McAuliffe\u2019s debate gaffe \u2014 \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/opinion\/campaign\/578885-education-blunder-igniting-suburban-parents-driving-mcauliffe-panic-in\/\">I don\u2019t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach<\/a>\u201d<a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/opinion\/campaign\/578885-education-blunder-igniting-suburban-parents-driving-mcauliffe-panic-in\/\"> <\/a>\u2014 which helped elect Youngkin.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>School boards are up for election, but so is the state legislature, and Republicans are hoping one will bleed into the other.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Correction: November 7, 2023, 1:25 p.m.<\/strong><br><em>Due to an editing error, the piece mistakenly said that Matt Dugan switched parties to run in the general against Stephen A. Zappala Jr. in Allegheny County. It was Zappala who switched parties to run against Dugan.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The post <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2023\/11\/07\/election-day-abortion-pennsylvania-new-jersey\/\">Do Voters Care More About Online Sex Than Abortion Rights?<\/a> appeared first on <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/\">The Intercept<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"syndicated-attribution\">This post was originally published on <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2023\/11\/07\/election-day-abortion-pennsylvania-new-jersey\/\">The Intercept<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The elections we\u2019re watching today in Ohio, Maine, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia, and more.<\/p>\n<p>The post <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2023\/11\/07\/election-day-abortion-pennsylvania-new-jersey\/\">Do Voters Care More About Online Sex Than Abortion Rights?<\/a> appeared first on <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/\">The Intercept<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":93,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,68890],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1316758"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/93"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1316758"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1316758\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1318111,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1316758\/revisions\/1318111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1316758"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1316758"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1316758"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}