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Opinion
The following is presented as part of The Columbian’s Opinion content, which offers a point of view in order to provoke thought and debate of civic issues. Opinions represent the viewpoint of the author. Unsigned editorials represent the consensus opinion of The Columbian’s editorial board, which operates independently of the news department.
Important victories in state-level races bode well for voting rights, elections
By Carl P. Leubsdorf
Published: November 14, 2022, 6:01am
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The Republicans’ failure to meet their widely predicted expectations has dominated the post-election national political conversation. But it would be a mistake to overlook the successes that Democrats enjoyed in Tuesday’s midterm voting beyond blunting the GOP drive to restore congressional dominance.
Most importantly, they scored a parade of victories in statewide and legislative races across the nation’s industrial belt that solidified their political Blue Wall in states that held the key to recent presidential victories.
They also prevented the election in key swing states of Republicans seeking jobs running elections who parroted former President Donald Trump’s unproven claims that he was robbed in 2020 and promised more restrictive voting rules.
What made many of those victories even sweeter to the Democrats — and especially the Biden White House — was the fact that many GOP losers had ties to and strong endorsements from Trump, who has indicated he plans to announce a 2024 presidential bid Tuesday.
Trump-backed candidates, many of them 2020 election deniers, had a more mixed record in congressional contests, winning North Carolina, Ohio and Wisconsin Senate races, losing in New Hampshire and Pennsylvania, and still hoping to survive tight contests in Arizona, Georgia and Nevada. The final result may affect GOP enthusiasm for backing him in 2024.
As for the Democrats, those state results will have an impact beyond their individual boundaries and likely bolster their 2024 candidate, whether Biden or someone else.
After all, it was Trump’s capture of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin that fueled his unexpected 2016 triumph. And it was Biden’s recapture of them four years later that was crucial to his 2020 victory.
The strong Democratic showing across the northern tier paralleled GOP successes from the Southeast to the Southwest, highlighted by results confirming their domination in Florida and Texas. But those victories occurred in states that have become increasingly parts of the Republican base and are unlikely to be competitive in 2024, even Florida.
Specifically, Democrats emerged from Tuesday’s balloting with most big state governorships from New York to Minnesota, save those of normally Republican Indiana and increasingly GOP-dominated Ohio.
Embattled incumbents Gretchen Whitmer, Tim Walz and Tony Evers survived stiff GOP challenges in Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin. And Josh Shapiro and Kathy Hochul extended Democratic control over Pennsylvania and New York.
In Wisconsin, not only was Evers re-elected but the Democrats succeeded in preventing Republican legislators, who enjoy massive majorities largely through gerrymandering, from achieving veto-proof levels. That means Evers will still be able to block GOP efforts to enact tightened voting rules, as Republicans have done in states they fully control like Texas and Florida. In the race for Wisconsin secretary of state, veteran Democratic incumbent Doug LaFollette had a slim lead over his GOP rival. But unlike in most states, the secretary of state doesn’t control voting rules in Wisconsin.
That is not the case in important presidential states like Arizona, Georgia, Michigan and Nevada, where secretaries of state from both parties played a crucial role in foiling Trump’s demands for recounts after certifying Biden’s victories in them.
One of the principal contests was in Arizona, where 2020 election denier Kari Lake is seeking the governorship against the Democratic secretary of state who upheld the 2020 vote, Katie Hobbs. But in the race for secretary of state, 2020 election denier Mark Finchem was trailing his Democratic rival.
In Georgia, Republican Brad Raffensperger, the recipient of that now-famous phone call from Trump demanding he overturn the 2020 result, won re-election. And in Pennsylvania, where the governor picks the secretary of state, Shapiro’s victory ensured the choice of an official who shares his view of seeking to expand voting opportunities, rather than restrict them.
Some Republicans who share Trump’s views were elected as secretaries of state in heavily Republican states, while Democratic-leaning states like Colorado and New Mexico rejected others.
But Tuesday’s results in most key states will likely strengthen the Democrats for 2024 and reduce the chances that a repetition of Trump’s anti-democratic 2020 effort would succeed.
