Nine Midterm Stories You Should Not Miss on Criminal Justice and Voting Rights

[Nevilledog]

https://boltsmag.org/nine-midterm-stories-you-should-not-miss-on-criminal-justice-and-voting-rights/

This was not the election that politicians and pundits expected.

Defying the historical trends of midterms, Democrats held the U.S Senate and have a chance to expand their majority if they win a runoff in Georgia next month. Republicans are on the brink of capturing the U.S. House but their still-uncertain majority will be far tighter than they envisioned.

Democrats did even better in state-level fights. They defended or flipped most of the cycle’s competitive governorships, seized at least three legislative chambers, and defeated all election deniers who were running to take over election administration in battleground states. They also seized full control of four state governments—Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, and Minnesota—which should yield major policy ramifications next year.

The result is most historic in Michigan, which will experience its first period under Democratic governance since the early 1980s, and where voters also approved enshrining abortion rights in the state constitution.

Republicans did score important wins, most notably flipping control of North Carolina’s supreme court and Nevada’s governorship. But they have gained no state government as of now, and they have lost control of the state government in Arizona for the first time since 2009.

*snip*

[crickets]

1. K&R for visibility.