I’m not going to sugarcoat this and claim that Republicans and conservatives in any way had a “good” night on Tuesday. The numbers speak for themselves.
It was a bloodbath. A shellacking. A political earthquake. A thrashing. These are all ways I’ve described previous Democrat defeats, and I won’t shy away from using them to describe what just happened to the GOP. It was brutal.
However, when you get past the dominant headlines and take a look at what was going on with ballot issues, an entirely different story starts to emerge. There are some fascinating nuggets to be found in the results.
Conservatives actually scored some major policy wins in the midterms, even in some of the deepest blue states. And these wins should be the basis of how the right – dare I say – builds back better.
Let’s take a look.
Election Integrity Wins Big
Voter ID and citizenship requirements proved to be quite popular with voters in several states.
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Ohio: Voters overwhelmingly approved Issue 3, which puts photo ID requirements into the state constitution and makes it harder for lawmakers to overturn in the future.
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North Carolina: Nearly 60 percent of voters approved a constitutional amendment expanding photo ID requirements to include absentee and mail-in ballots.
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Nevada: In a state where Democrats performed pretty well, voters approved Question 7, requiring photo ID for in-person voting and additional identity verification for mail ballots.
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Arkansas, Kansas, South Dakota, and West Virginia: All four states approved constitutional amendments mandating that only U.S. citizens are eligible to vote in state and local elections.
Ballotpedia has a rundown of the nationwide results.
Voters Stand Up for Girls and Girls’ Sports
This may be the most encouraging development of the night for conservatives (and all sane Americans), especially when you take into consideration where some of these victories took place.
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Nebraska: Voters approved Initiative 442, enshrining protections for female athletes in the state constitution and barring biological males from competing on girls’ and women’s teams.
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Arizona: Proposition 318 passed with roughly 57 percent support and strengthened existing restrictions on biological males participating in girls’ sports and using girls’ locker rooms and bathrooms.
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Colorado: Even as Democrats swept statewide offices, voters appeared poised to approve Proposition 134, which would require high school and college athletes to compete on teams that correspond to their biological sex. The measure was leading with approximately 52 percent support as of Wednesday morning.
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Washington: Here’s the real surprise. In deepest-blue Washington, Initiative 638, which would prohibit biological males from competing on K-12 girls’ sports teams, was leading with nearly 57 percent of the vote. Ballots are still being counted, but that’s a remarkable showing in a state dominated by radical Democrats.
Wait, what? Colorado and Washington? What’s going on here?
A Major Pro-Life Victory
Idaho: Voters said no to Proposition 1, which would have expanded abortion rights in the state. That means Idaho’s tough abortion laws will stay in place, giving pro-life advocates a much-needed win on an otherwise disappointing Election Night.
Read more about Idaho’s results here.
Taxpayers Get Some Good News
Voters also showed some enthusiasm for keeping more of their hard-earned money in their own pockets.
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Florida: Amendment 3 passed with approximately 62 percent support, expanding property tax exemptions for homeowners and clearing the state’s required 60-percent threshold for constitutional amendments.
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North Carolina: Voters approved two additional constitutional amendments, one lowering the maximum allowable state income tax rate from 7 percent to 3.5 percent, and another one that requires lawmakers to establish limits on local property tax increases.
And in Colorado, voters also approved Proposition 133, which imposes life imprisonment without parole for child sex traffickers, while another measure that would increase penalties for fentanyl-related crimes looks poised to pass, too.
The Big Picture
Does any this soften the blow of Tuesday’s results? Maybe not.
Let’s face it, losing control of Congress is a serious setback, and there’s plenty of political soul-searching that needs to be done – immediately! – by the GOP.
But, these ballot victories tell another story, one that’s worth paying attention to.
In states where voters were perfectly willing to elect Democrats, many of those same voters also supported policies long championed by conservatives.
Here’s My Takeaway
It’s pretty simple: conservative ideas are considerably more popular than the Republican candidates who are running on them. Make of that what you will.
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