Estimated read time: 7-8 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY — Tuesday is Election Day and voters across the U.S. are heading to the polls to elect new lawmakers and weigh in on issues that matter to them.
The results will be a good indicator of the country's mood beyond the polling, which is often "a lagging indicator," Boyd Matheson, the host of KSL News Radio's "Inside Sources," told the Deseret News.
"Sometimes people are hesitant to say one way or the other, they hedge their bet a little bit, or they don't want to offend their mother-in-law or their crazy uncle," he said. But going out and voting is more serious and definitive, Matheson added.
In the deep-red strongholds of Kentucky and Mississippi, incumbent governors are vying for reelection. Pennsylvania's voters face the critical choice of filling a vacant state Supreme Court seat, while in Virginia, this election will determine the power balance in the state legislature — and whether Gov. Glenn Youngkin has as much political clout as people believe.
In terms of the mood of the country, Virginia has "become a bellwether," said Matheson. Of Youngkin's strategy while campaigning for governor last year, he noted that the hyper-focus was local issues. This helped Youngkin defeat Terry McAuliffe, the incumbent who had support from "the Obamas and a lot of the big, Democratic national machinery," Matheson added.
Now, Youngkin is applying the same strategy to gain control of the state legislature, which will be helpful, should he decide to run for president in 2024.
"I think it's also instructive in terms of how other campaigns will be run, including presidential campaigns in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada," said Matheson. "If they continue to try to take this broad brush — the Biden-Trump approach — or whether someone says we're going to make this about the local issues, and really customize it."
Meanwhile, the issue of abortion is center stage in Ohio but is also influential in other competitive races this year.
"The vast majority of the country," Matheson said, "is in the movable, the center-left to center-right, and they are getting exhausted by the extreme left and the extreme right" when it comes to abortion legislation. Tuesday's results will show whether this majority is willing to exercise its power.
Here are five races to watch on Tuesday.
Ohio ballot measure on abortion
Voters in the Buckeye State will weigh in on a ballot measure related to abortion. The measure, known as Issue 1, seeks to amend Ohio's Constitution to include abortion rights, which would include legal protections for physicians and patients, according to language on the ballot.
The amendment allows banning abortion after viability, except in situations when the physician deems the procedure necessary to save a pregnant woman's life or health at any stage of pregnancy.
As CBS News reported, abortion has been on the ballot across the U.S. since the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade in June 2022.
Ohio lawmakers tried to ban abortion after six weeks, with exceptions for the life of the mother but not incest or rape, but the attempt was blocked by a county court. As of right now, abortion is legal until 22 weeks of pregnancy in the state.
Measures like Issue 1 tanked in red states like Kentucky, Montana and Kansas, while blue states like California, Michigan and Vermont successfully passed state constitutional amendments. In Ohio, 60% of the vote will be required to pass Issue 1.
Virginia Legislature
As U.S. News reported, the power of Virginia's state legislature might shift as all seats in the Democrat-controlled state Senate and Republican-controlled state House of Representatives are up for grabs.
Youngkin has his eyes set on imposing a 15-week abortion ban, which would have exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother.
"Folks, we got work to do — and that work is holding the House, and flipping the Senate," he said while campaigning for three Republican candidates, per NPR. But this strategy isn't exactly easy to implement, since Virginia has recently been more of a blue state.
A win for Republicans could also help position Youngkin to launch a presidential campaign, which the Virginia governor is interested in, Thomas Peterffy, founder of Interactive Brokers, told Forbes. Youngkin would have "a platform on which we could say, 'Look, I turned an all-blue state red, and I can do that nationwide. So please vote for me.'"
Pennsylvania Supreme Court
There is a seat open on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, which was previously held by the late Justice Max Baer, a Democrat. Since his death, the Democratic majority has been 4-2, which means that regardless of who wins this election, the control of the court will remain unchanged.
But this voting cycle will lay the groundwork for 2025, when three Democratic justices are up for reelection after a 10-year term, according to Ballotpedia. Previously, in 2021, Kevin Brobson, a Republican, defeated Maria McLaughlin, a Democrat, in a close election, 52% to 48%.
The race between Republican Carolyn Carluccio and Democrat Dan McCaffery has already cost upward of $22 million, becoming the costliest race for a high court in the state.
As CBS News reported, the biggest donors included conservative billionaire Jeffrey Yass, who has shown support for "school choice and anti-regulation causes," and on the left, trial lawyers and public employee unions.
Kentucky governor's race
Incumbent Gov. Andy Beshear, a Democrat, faces Attorney General Daniel Cameron, a Republican, in an election that the Cook Political Report predicts will lean Democrat.
According to CNN's Eric Bradner, "The race will test whether a Democratic incumbent can survive in a deep-red state where his party's voter registration advantage has been erased in recent years and the political environment is increasingly dominated by national themes."
Abortion is also a central issue for this election. Kentucky's law completely bans the procedure, which has become a focus for abortion rights activists.
At a debate in October, Beshear said his challenger's "position gives a rapist more rights than their victim. It is wrong. We need to change this law. We need to make sure that those individuals have that option," as the Courier-Journal reported.
Meanwhile, Cameron said that he is a "pro-life candidate," while Beshear is an "abortion candidate." He promised that if the Kentucky legislature were to pass a bill to include exceptions in the abortion law, he would "certainly sign it."
Mississippi governor's race
Gov. Tate Reeves, the Republican incumbent, is going up against Brandon Presley, a Democrat, in a state that hasn't elected a Democratic governor since 1999.
Presley entered the race with some name recognition: He has not only served as mayor of a small town but is the second cousin of iconic signer Elvis Presley, a fact that has helped him raise more than Reeves during the campaign.
Matheson said that the association with Presley might buy the Democratic candidate "an extra few percentage points, But I don't think it quite gets him across the finish line in Mississippi."
Per U.S. News, he is running on a platform that supports tax cuts and expansion of Medicaid.
Meanwhile, Reeves has an impressive track record as he takes credit for low unemployment numbers and the largest tax cut in Mississippi history.
Presley has accused Reeves of being involved in a multimillion-dollar welfare scandal, where at least $77 million in federal funds were misspent between 2017 and 2020, according to Mississippi Today. Reeves has denied any wrongdoing but faces a lawsuit in relation to the scandal.
The Democratic challenger said he plans to enact "new policies so that the largest corruption scandal in state history doesn't happen again."
The Hill reported that according to recent polling, Reeves and Presley are neck-and-neck, with 46% and 45%, respectively.
