News: Trump wins the White House as abortion measures split states

Wednesday, November 6, 2024

Trump wins the White House as abortion measures split states

Nov 06, 2024

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By Ben Leonard and Chelsea Cirruzzo

With help from Alice Miranda Ollstein

Driving The Day

Voters cast their ballots at Yorkville Baptist Church.

Voters broadly supported abortion rights in state ballot measures even as Donald Trump gained ground in key states. | Kevin D. Liles for POLITICO

ABORTION NOT A SILVER BULLET FOR DEMS — Democrats had bet on abortion rights being a major motivator to drive turnout for Vice President Kamala Harris. The issue was broadly popular in ballot measures despite some conservative wins, but it was not enough to carry her to victory.

Former President Donald Trump largely focused on issues outside of health care during his campaign and tried to soften GOP messaging on the issue, saying he’d leave abortion rights to the states. And he improved his margins in many areas compared with 2020.

How the ballot measures fared: Many states voted Tuesday to restore, preserve or expand the right to terminate a pregnancy, including in conservative strongholds like Missouri.

And these measures won despite widespread efforts by GOP state officials, GOP-appointed judges and anti-abortion advocacy groups to prevent them from passing or even reaching the ballot, using legislation, lawsuits and public pressure campaigns.

Arizona became the first state since the fall of Roe to override a 15-week ban, the policy conservatives have long argued is a “compromise” embraced by a majority of the public.

But abortion opponents notched their first victories Tuesday night in ballot measure fights since the fall of Roe, with voters in Florida and South Dakota upholding bans on the procedure. In Nebraska, a ballot initiative to limit abortion after the first trimester won out with just over 55 percent of the vote. A competing initiative to establish a constitutional right to abortion failed with 51 percent voting against it.

The pair of losses in GOP-controlled states highlighted the left’s struggle to keep voters’ focus on the issue as well as the right’s evolving strategies to kneecap the ballot measure process. And abortion opponents have vowed to keep fighting initiatives that have already passed, with plans to file legal challenges and, should those fail, pursue additional ballot measures.

Mirrored in the states: In New Hampshire’s governor’s race, Democrat Joyce Craig used the abortion-rights playbook but fell short against Republican Kelly Ayotte.

WELCOME TO WEDNESDAY PULSE. Send your tips, scoops and feedback to bleonard@politico.com and ccirruzzo@politico.com and follow along @_BenLeonard_ and @ChelseaCirruzzo.

In Congress

Sherrod Brown looks on.

Sen. Sherrod Brown lost his seat to Bernie Moreno, leading to Republican control of the Senate. | Tierney L. Cross/Getty Images

WHAT THE SENATE MEANS FOR HEALTH CARE — With Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) falling in his race to Republican Bernie Moreno and Republican Jim Justice winning the seat once held by former Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin (I-W.Va.), Republicans have won control of the Senate.

How much power a Republican majority will be able to exert will depend on control of the House, which is still up in the air.

If the GOP controls both chambers of Congress, lawmakers could use a wonky process known as reconciliation to pass legislation with a simple majority vote.

That means more partisan health care priorities could move. The GOP would be expected to let subsidies for Affordable Care Act plan premiums expire at the end of 2025. Medicaid cuts and reforms could also be part of such a package.

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), currently ranking member, is poised to chair the Senate HELP Committee, and Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) is set to move from ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee to chair.

Here are some other notable races:

— Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.) won the race for a Delaware Senate seat. She’ll replace Democratic Sen. Tom Carper, who was not seeking reelection. She’s focused on health care in the House, including being a top telehealth supporter, backing a menthol cigarette ban and moving to address maternal mortality.

— Maryland Democrat Angela Alsobrooks beat the state’s former GOP Gov. Larry Hogan. Alsobrooks has called for establishing a Medicare buy-in option and expanding Medicare's drug pricing negotiating power. Hogan has a bipartisan flair and has been active on health care issues.

HOUSE: STILL UP FOR GRABS — Control of the House is still to be determined.

New health care providers: Several health professionals won House seats, including pulmonologist Maxine Dexter, an Oregon Democrat; family medicine doctor Mike Kennedy, a Utah Republican; OB-GYN Kelly Morrison, a Minnesota Democrat; allergy doctor Bob Onder, a Missouri Republican; and psychiatric nurse practitioner Sheri Biggs, a South Carolina Republican.

A first: Democrat Sarah McBride won Delaware’s only House seat and will become the first openly transgender lawmaker in Congress. Transgender issues have become a major focus for the GOP.

IN THE STATES

A BLOW FOR PSYCHEDELICS — Massachusetts voters rejected a ballot measure that would have legalized the recreational use of some psychedelic substances for people 21 and older.

It’s the latest blow to backers of psychedelics after the FDA this summer rejected an application to use MDMA, also known as ecstasy, as a treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder. The VA, though, remains convinced that psychedelic therapy can help treat veterans with PTSD and is funding a study on it.

HEALTH TECH

MOMENTUM FOR BIOSECURE? Congressional leaders are pushing to attach a bill aimed at blunting China’s involvement in biotech to annual defense policy legislation, POLITICO’s Connor O’Brien and Joe Gould report.

It’s part of a broader raft of more than 70 China and artificial intelligence-related bills in the mix for the National Defense Authorization Act, according to a list viewed by POLITICO.

The roster is a tentative list of bills up for consideration and not a final slate of the bills that will be included in the NDAA. A prospective China and AI package would need the support of Democrats and Republicans in both chambers to pass, and negotiations will involve numerous committees.

Though a counter-China push enjoys support from leaders in both chambers, the precise makeup of the package could be a main sticking point in negotiations on a compromise 2025 NDAA.

Both House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer have prioritized legislation to compete with China on security and economic fronts and are pursuing a deal to include legislation in the NDAA, according to people familiar with the process granted anonymity to discuss the situation candidly. But the two chambers have differed in their approaches to the issue, and any disagreements over the package could tie up the NDAA, which must be completed by the end of the year.

The tentative list of bills for consideration includes the BIOSECURE Act, a bill that would effectively prohibit Chinese biotech companies from doing business in the U.S. So far, the legislation has been left out of the House’s and Senate’s versions of the NDAA but could be added to a reconciled version. It passed the House in a 306-81 vote in September, but 79 Democrats voted against the bill.

Other bills: Also included is legislation to curb low-value, or “de minimis,” shipments to the U.S., which advocates argue Chinese firms exploit to avoid tariffs and ship small quantities of fentanyl and its precursor chemicals into the U.S.

Roughly a quarter of the bills on the list deal with artificial intelligence, including legislation related to AI research and workforce training bills.

WHAT WE'RE READING

STAT reports that the Supreme Court appears split on a case over a major hospital payment program.

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