RandySF
RandySF's JournalMississippi House Speaker proposes ballot referendum for Medicaid expansion
JACKSON, Miss. (WLOX) - On Wednesday, House Speaker Jason White said the House will deliver a signed conference report to proceed with a statewide ballot referendum on Medicaid expansion.
This comes after HB 1725 was sent back to a conference committee yesterday.
“Moving through the final stages of the legislative process, it became apparent that opinions still differed on the best way to address our healthcare crisis,” Rep. White said in a press release.
White said there will be two parts to the referendum: Mississippi voters will have to decide whether to expand Medicaid, and if so, should there be a work requirement.
https://www.wlox.com/2024/05/02/mississippi-house-speaker-proposes-ballot-referendum-medicaid-expansion/
How Six-Week Abortion Bans Went From Fringe to Reality
Just over a decade ago, six-week abortion bans were seen as too radical even by many members of the anti-abortion movement, who worried they carried too much political and legal risk.
On Wednesday, Florida became the latest state to put one into effect.
The law, which was signed last year by Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, cuts off access to the procedure before many women even know they are pregnant, leaving millions of women in the South hundreds of miles from a clinic offering abortion.
The ban represents another victory for the true believers of the anti-abortion movement that seek sharp curbs on the procedure. But when such a ban was first introduced, mainstream abortion opponents who preferred gradually chipping away at abortion rights felt such restrictions could backfire and undermine their broader goals.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/01/us/politics/six-week-abortion-bans.html
Democrats target statehouses to bolster abortion efforts in 2024
Voters in a slew of states could see abortion protections explicitly on the ballot this year, in the form of proposed constitutional amendments.
To be effective, though, Democrats say they’ll also need to secure statehouse victories in 2024.
The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, an organization focused on electing Democrats at the state level, said in a memo Thursday that these referendums “can be an immediate or initial fix, but the long term building of power in state legislatures is the most effective way” to secure abortion access for Americans across the country.
Abortion rights advocates have been on a ballot measure winning streak since 2022, when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, a 1973 case guaranteeing the constitutional right to an abortion.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/05/02/dlcc-abortion-measures-statehouse-wins-2024/73429279007/
Abortion access defines key New York congressional races
On the night before he was first elected to Congress in August 2022, Ulster County Executive Pat Ryan, flanked by New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and other campaign supporters, was delivering the final speech of his campaign.
His address was very different than what he might have imagined it would be a few months earlier.
Ryan — a Democrat who graduated from West Point and served two tours of duty in Iraq — stood in front of a wall-sized American flag in a room often used for weddings and corporate dinners and talked mostly about abortion rights.
He spoke of "fundamental freedoms and rights being ripped away," adding "control over (women's) lives and bodies have been ripped away."
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/abortion-rights-define-key-new-york-congressional-races/
Inside the ground game to win Florida abortion referendum votes
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — There was standing room only for the volunteers gathered near the University of Florida on a recent afternoon to learn how they could campaign in favor of a referendum to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution.
Among the tips they got: Don’t mention President Biden or Donald Trump by name. Describe abortion as a health-care issue, not a political one. And don’t be afraid to get personal.
“We must not make this a partisan fight,” said Julie Cantillo, one of the Yes on 4 campaign representatives leading the training. “Our goal is to kick all politicians, regardless of party affiliations, out of private medical decisions.”
Florida’s six-week abortion ban went into effect Wednesday, making the state one of the most restrictive for reproductive rights in the nation. Simultaneously, another front in the battle over abortion has begun: the fight to convince voters for or against a referendum enshrining access to the procedure in the state’s constitution.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2024/05/02/florida-abortion-referendum/
Why Yes-or-No Questions on Abortion Rights Could Be a Key to 2024
As Democrats confront a presidential race against a resurgent and resilient Donald J. Trump as well as a brutally challenging Senate map, they believe they have an increasingly powerful political weapon: ballot measures to protect abortion rights.
Two crucial presidential and Senate battlegrounds, Arizona and Nevada, are expected to put such measures directly before voters. So are other states with top Senate races, including Maryland and potentially Montana. And abortion rights measures are set or could appear on ballots in states like New York, Florida and Nebraska, where competitive contests could help determine whether Democrats win back the House.
Hopeful Democrats — and worried Republicans — are acutely aware that since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade two years ago, every ballot measure seeking to protect or restore access to abortion has been successful, in both red states like Ohio and Kansas as well as swing states like Michigan. Those measures have sometimes fueled surges in liberal turnout that have lifted Democratic candidates to victory, as well.
So in every state where an abortion measure is already on the 2024 ballot or could yet appear, Democratic candidates, state parties and allied groups are campaigning furiously alongside the ballot initiatives, running ads, helping pour money behind them and bringing up the measures in speech after speech.
In Arizona, where Democrats are trying to flip the Legislature, the party’s candidates have gone so far as to collect signatures for the state’s ballot measure as they knock on voters’ doors.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/02/us/politics/abortion-ballot-measures-2024.html
UK: Jeremy Corbyn urged to stand as independent at next election
The former Labour leader was stripped of the party whip in 2020 after he refused to apologise for institutional anti-Semitism during his time in office.
It means he will not be able to stand as Labour candidate in his seat of Islington North at the next election.
Now a group called Islington Friends of Jeremy Corbyn is urging him to stand.
They have launched a petition, which last night had reached more than 1,700 signatures.
The petition states: “Jeremy Corbyn has been our MP since 1983. For the past 40 years, Jeremy has dedicated his life to the people of Islington North, standing up for social justice, human rights and peace.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/05/01/jeremy-corbyn-independent-mp-next-election-labour-gaza/
Advocates say Supreme Court must preserve new, mostly Black US House district for 2024 elections
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Voting rights advocates said Wednesday they will go to the Supreme Court in hopes of preserving a new majority Black congressional district in Louisiana for the fall elections, the latest step in a complicated legal fight that could determine the fate of political careers and the balance of power in the next Congress.
A divided panel of federal judges on Tuesday rejected a map approved in January by an unusual alliance of Republicans, who dominate the Legislature, and Democrats who want a second mostly Black — and mostly Democratic — congressional district.
Republican state Attorney General Liz Murrill said she would appeal Tuesday’s ruling. And a coalition of individuals and civil rights groups filed a formal notice Wednesday saying they would go to the Supreme Court.
Jared Evans, an attorney with the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, said that by the end of the week advocates will ask the Supreme Court to keep the new maps in place for 2024, pending further legal action. He cited the need to have district maps in place soon. State election officials have said they need to know what maps to use by May 15 for the fall elections.
https://apnews.com/article/louisiana-black-house-district-2024-election-1ed871b6da43ebd571fe728e71157519
Chad interim ruler Mahamat Deby favorite to win presidential election
But in an unprecedented scenario for Chad, Succes Masra, once a fierce opponent of the Deby dynasty who then allied with them and was recently appointed prime minister, is clouding the outlook by attracting large crowds.
Two theories are circulating about what is going on in the African nation of 18 million people.
One is that Masra's candidacy for president is just a show to provide a democratic fig leaf for a vote Deby will easily win.
The other is that Masra has been galvanised by the crowds and now considers himself a genuine opponent. That could even push Deby into a run-off and convince junta to stuff ballot boxes.
https://www.france24.com/en/africa/20240502-chad-interim-ruler-deby-favorite-to-win-presidential-election
UK Tories pretend they're not Tories to win
LONDON — Andy Street was once a success story for the Conservatives — now he wants less and less to do with them.
The 60-year-old former department store manager was elected the first mayor of the West Midlands in 2016 and went on to win re-election by a wider margin in 2021.
He’s been hailed as a model for Conservatives in devolved government to copy, winning plaudits and votes for vocally putting regional needs first and foremost.
But as voters go to the polls across England and Wales Thursday, Street’s hardly shouting from the rooftops about Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Conservative government.
https://www.politico.eu/article/uk-local-elections-2024-conservative-candidates-andy-street-ben-houchen/
Profile Information
Gender: MaleHometown: Detroit Area, MI
Home country: USA
Current location: San Francisco, CA
Member since: Wed Oct 29, 2008, 02:53 PM
Number of posts: 59,205