Results tagged “Protect & Elect” from Blog for Choice
[crossposted from the Huffington Post blog]
Nancy Keenan is president of NARAL Pro-Choice America.
Last night, while standing just a few feet from the podium from which our next pro-choice president spoke, I was overcome with pride and emotion. Would it have been possible to react in any other way? I was so proud of what pro-choice America did to make this historic moment possible and I knew in that moment that the electricity I felt in this crowd in Chicago was being felt across the country.
NARAL Pro-Choice America worked hard for our slate of pro-choice candidates across the country, including pro-choice Sen. Barack Obama, and that hard work resulted in the reaffirmation of our commitment to the values of freedom and privacy.
In a race that featured candidates with stark differences on choice, voters rejected John McCain's divisive attacks on a woman's right to choose and responded to Sen. Obama's call to move this country in a new direction. And wouldn't you know, it is a clear, decisive victory.
Here is a list of pro-choice electoral highlights:
- Pro-choice Sen. Barack Obama wins a decisive victory, picking up traditionally conservative states with his common-ground message.
- Pro-choice Americans defeat anti-choice ballot measures in South Dakota, California and Colorado. In South Dakota, a state won by John McCain, voters made clear their opposition to a dangerous abortion ban by defeating the measure for the second consecutive election.
- At this point, election results show that Americans elected a net gain of 16 fully pro-choice members in the House, and moved five Senate seats out of the anti-choice column - with four more Senate seats still waiting to be called.
Even as some races remain too close to call, there are multiple examples of pro-choice gains:
- Jeanne Shaheen (New Hampshire) and Mark Udall (Colorado) defeated anti-choice incumbent senators in their high profile races].
- Sen. Elizabeth Dole (North Carolina) lost her seat after one term. She consistently voted anti-choice, and supported the Bush agenda on almost every issue.
- In Virginia's 11th Congressional District, NARAL Pro-Choice America PAC-endorsed candidate Gerry Connolly defeated anti-choice Keith Fimian.
- In Michigan's 7th Congressional District, NARAL Pro-Choice America PAC-endorsed candidate Mark Schauer defeated anti-choice Rep. Tim Walberg. In the state's 9th Congressional District NARAL Pro-Choice America PAC-endorsed candidate Gary Peters defeated anti-choice Rep. Joe Knollenberg.
- In New Mexico's 1st Congressional District, NARAL Pro-Choice America PAC-endorsed candidate Martin Heinrich defeated anti-choice Darren White and in New Mexico's 2nd Congressional District, NARAL Pro-Choice America PAC-endorsed candidate Harry Teague defeated anti-choice Ed Tinsley. The entire New Mexico congressional delegation in now pro-choice.
As you can tell, there is much for pro-choice America to celebrate.
I'm proud that NARAL Pro-Choice America was the first major pro-choice PAC to endorse Obama for president.
I'm proud that the NARAL Pro-Choice America PAC endorsed 95 candidates for the U.S. House and Senate and made $350,000 in direct contributions to campaigns.
I'm proud that NARAL Pro-Choice America volunteers made more than 12,500 GOTV calls into swing states urging voters to support Sen. Obama, targeted pro-choice congressional candidates and mobilized its one-million-strong network of member activists to engage in campaigns and vote for pro-choice candidates. President-elect Obama won all eight battleground states where NARAL Pro-Choice America contacted pro-choice voters on his behalf.
And finally, I'm proud of pro-choice America. These pro-choice wins would not have been possible without all of you.
TagsAt the end of March, the Democratic National Committee put out a memo on focus group research they conducted on John McCain. Well wouldn't you know it - the DNC focus groups confirmed what we've known for some time: women panelists reacted "surprisingly strongly" to the fact that McCain is anti-choice! It's great to know that other non-choice affiliated groups are focusing on what we think is McCain's biggest weakness among women voters. Here's the excerpt from the memo:
Women panelists in the focus groups reacted surprisingly strongly to the fact that Senator McCain opposes requirements for health plans to provide contraceptive coverage and favors abstinence-only sex education. Even among women who described themselves as pro-life, those aspects of Senator McCain's record cast him as someone who is "unrealistic," "out of touch," and "stuck in the past." Many of the women in the groups were resentful when they learned that Senator McCain favors overturning Roe vs. Wade, and were disappointed because they expected him to be more moderate on this issue.
With such a solid anti-choice voting history on choice-related issues, it's even more startling to read that even women who described themselves as pro-life were shocked by his "unrealistic" and "out of touch" support for unrealistic and unproven "abstinence-only" sex education.
This is just one of the reasons why NARAL Pro-Choice America is targeting pro-choice Independent and Republican women in the 2008 elections: We know that once they get the information they need, they will vote against McCain and for a pro-choice candidate.
Listen as one woman tells her story (or watch it below) about why McCain's opposition to a woman's right to choose influenced her vote, and be sure to checkout www.MeetTheRealMcCain.com for more information.
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