Kansas votes to keep right to abortion

Kansas voters have decided to maintain the right to an abortion in their state’s constitution by voting “no” on a proposed constitutional amendment, CNN projects.

It was the first popular vote on abortion since the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June.

The vote comes after a 2019 state Supreme Court ruling found the state constitution does protect the right to an abortion. A “yes” vote on the amendment would have removed the right to abortion from the state constitution, while a “no” vote maintains it.

The proposed amendment stated: “Because Kansans value both women and children, the Constitution of the state of Kansas does not require government funding of abortion and does not create or secure a right to abortion.”  

Abortion is currently legal up to 22 weeks in Kansas, making the state as haven for women seeking the procedure in nearby states that have rolled back abortion rights. In response, anti-abortion and Republican groups pushed to change the state’s constitution to specify that the state does not guarantee the right to the procedure and open the door to similar strict laws in Kansas.

Pro-choice organizations responded with a widespread get-out-the-vote effort, viewing the fight as a test for abortion politics in a post-Roe era. And the victory on Tuesday represents a significant moment in the ever-changing fight over abortion rights, offering these groups a victory just weeks after they were dealt a crushing defeat by the Supreme Court.

“Kansas values have always exemplified freedom, and tonight, Kansas continued that legacy,” said Emily Wales, president and CEO, Planned Parenthood Great Plains Votes. “This historic victory was the result of a groundswell of grassroots support and a broad coalition of reasonable, thoughtful Kansans across the state who put health care over politics.”

Planned Parenthood in a statement said the "victory is a result of a long campaign to motivate voters to protect bodily autonomy at the ballot box."

"Kansas is one of the only states in the region that safeguards access to legal abortion and following today’s vote will remain a critical access point," it said in the statement.

Polls have consistently shown that the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade is broadly unpopular. A CNN poll released in late July found nearly two-thirds of Americans disapprove of the Supreme Court decision, with even 55% of self-identified moderate or liberal Republicans saying they disapproved of the decision. But the results on Tuesday, the first electoral test of abortion rights after the Supreme Court decision, put an even finer point on that sentiment.

“This is further proof of what poll after poll has told us: Americans support abortion rights,” said Christina Reynolds, a top operative for Emily’s List, an organization that looks to elect pro-choice women. “They believe we should be able to make our own health care decisions, and they will vote accordingly, even in the face of misleading campaigns."

The “no” victory leaves the state constitution unchanged. While lawmakers in the state can still try to pass restrictive abortion laws, courts in Kansas have recognized a right to abortion under the state constitution. Lawmakers had passed a restrictive abortion law in 2015, but it was permanently blocked by the courts.

The "yes" vote would have amended the state’s constitution to say Kansas “does not require government funding of abortion and does not create or secure a right to abortion.” The vote would not have banned abortion outright, but it would have opened the door to the procedure being banned, especially considering Republicans control both chambers of the state’s legislature and almost every top office except for governor, which is held by Democrat Laura Kelly.

Kelly, who planned to vote no on the measure, warned that a "yes" vote would mean “the Legislature would immediately come back with some very severe restrictions on a woman’s ability to control her own fate.”

In addition to the win, Democrats have been enthused by the significant turnout.

The issue was placed on the primary ballot, rather than the general election, which abortion rights advocates believe was intended to limit turnout. Registered Republicans outnumber Democrats in the state by more than 350,000, according to the latest figures from the Kansas Secretary of State's office.

But the victory — along with the increased turnout — is yet another signal that abortion can be a motivating factor for voters in a red state, a critical question as Democrats heads into what could be a trying midterm election.

Rep. Haley Stevens will win the Democratic nomination for Michigan’s 11th Congressional District, CNN projects. 

Redistricting led to an incumbent vs. incumbent all-Democratic face-off in the district between Stevens and Rep. Andy Levin. Both lawmakers were first elected in 2018.

Levin was generally considered the more progressive candidate in the race, but the Stevens campaign had tried to downplay the ideological differences between the two.  

Still, the race became one of the key battlegrounds in the Democratic Party's evolving rift over Israel and overlapping debates about Democrats' broader ideological direction. 

Stevens, who is not Jewish, benefited from spending by the United Democracy Project, a super PAC affiliated with the more hawkish American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, while Levin, who is Jewish, had the backing of the campaign arm of J-Street, a moderate "pro-Israel, pro-peace" group.

High-profile Democrats weighed in on the race, with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton endorsing Stevens and Levin securing the support of Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders. 

Stevens will be heavily favored in the fall against Republican nominee Mark Ambrose in a district that would have backed Biden by 20 points.

Democrats will be watching closely how voters decide on a proposed abortion amendment in Kansas as the party heads into the midterm elections, CNN's John King said.

Kansas is a historically Republican state — President Biden won five counties in 2020. King said the party is looking for issues that galvanize voters to cast their ballot for them in November. One of those issues could be abortion, he said during CNN's coverage of the primaries.

A majority vote for "yes" for the measure would result in the state constitution being amended to say that it "does not require government funding of abortion and does not create or secure a right to abortion." While such a vote would not ban abortion in the state, it would be up to the GOP-controlled state legislature to pass laws regarding the procedure, including bans on abortion at all stages of pregnancy without exceptions for rape and incest.

Kansas is the first state in the nation to let voters weigh in on abortion since the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June.

"The Democrats are looking for something to help them turn out voters and to peel back the suburban Republicans who revolted against Donald Trump, to peel back independents who might say 'I don't like inflation, I don't think Biden's delivered,'" he said in his analysis.

"Democrats believe the abortion issue could be a turnout mechanism and a vote changing mechanism. Kansas is part of that test," King added.

Read more about Kansas' vote on the abortion amendment here.

Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt will win the Republican nomination in the state's Senate race, CNN projects. 

His victory will soothe the concerns of national Republicans who were anxious that scandal-plagued rival Eric Greitens, the disgraced former governor, could flop in the general election. 

Schmitt and Greitens shared an eleventh-hour endorsement from Trump, who said he was backing “Eric,” but that he would leave it up to Missouri voters to decide which one. Both candidates blasted out tweets and emails boasting of Trump’s support, but Show-Me State Republicans broke decisively for Schmitt, who in the final stretch of the campaign said he would like to replace Kentucky’s Mitch McConnell as the GOP’s leader in the Senate. (Greitens said the same earlier in the campaign.)

Rep. Vicky Hartzler, who along with Greitens appeared to be a distant second to Schmitt on Tuesday night, was endorsed by Sen. Josh Hawley, the state’s junior senator. Hartzler had been critical of Trump in the aftermath of Jan. 6, 2021, but still voted against certifying the presidential vote and touts her voting record with Trump on the trail. 

Rep. Billy Long and Mark McCloskey, a lawyer who became famous after he and wife wielded firearms from their property as a protest against police violence passed by in June 2020, were also on the long GOP ballot.

Kansas on Tuesday became the first state in the nation to let voters weigh in on abortion since the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

The closely watched vote offers the first popular look at voter sentiment in the wake of the decision striking down Roe, which eliminated a federal right to abortion and sent the matter back to the states.

Voters regardless of political affiliation were asked whether to amend the state constitution to remove a protected right to abortion. The procedure is currently legal up to 22 weeks in Kansas, where people from Texas, Oklahoma and Missouri have traveled for services amid Republican-led efforts to roll back abortion rights.

The text of the Tuesday's question reads: "Because Kansans value both women and children, the constitution of the state of Kansas does not require government funding of abortion and does not create or secure a right to abortion. To the extent permitted by the constitution of the United States, the people, through their elected state representatives and state senators, may pass laws regarding abortion, including, but not limited to, laws that account for circumstances of pregnancy resulting from rape or incest, or circumstances of necessity to save the life of the mother."

A majority vote for "yes" would result in the state constitution being amended to say that it "does not require government funding of abortion and does not create or secure a right to abortion."

While such a vote would not ban abortion, it would be up to the GOP-controlled state legislature to pass laws regarding the procedure, including ban on abortion at all stages of pregnancy without exceptions for rape and incest. And removing state constitutional protections would significantly curtail the ability of an individual to challenge a restrictive abortion measure.

A "no" vote would leave the state constitution unchanged, and abortions up to 22 weeks would remain legal. Lawmakers could still pass restrictive abortion laws, but the state would have to meet a higher threshold proving that it has a reason to enact the law in court.

Until now, the courts have recognized a right to abortion under the state constitution. Lawmakers had passed a restrictive abortion law in 2015 that would have banned the dilation and evacuation procedure, but it was permanently blocked by the courts.

When the Kansas state Supreme Court in 2019 ruled on the law, it said that the right to an abortion was protected under Section 1 of the Kansas constitution's Bill of Rights, which reads, "All men are possessed of equal and inalienable natural rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."

The issue was placed on the primary ballot, rather than the general election, which abortion rights advocates believe was intended in order to limit turnout. Registered Republicans outnumber Democrats in the state by more than 350,000, according to the latest figures from the Kansas Secretary of State's office.

The constitutional amendment has already raised voter interest in the primary election, according to the Kansas Secretary of State's office.

CNN's Nick Valencia and Devon Sayers contributed to this report.

Read more.

At a bar in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where dozens of his supporters have gathered for election night, Republican Rep. Peter Meijer was mingling with the crowd as results trickled in, telling them that mail-in ballots that he expects to break in his favor could take days to count.

He walked through days of delays in 2020’s results while talking with a group of six supporters on the patio of the Social House Kitchen & Bar. 

The earliest results showed Meijer trailing in his primary against John Gibbs, a conservative election denier endorsed by former President Donald Trump. Meijer told the group that those early results wouldn’t be representative of the eventual outcome as mail-in ballots that he expects to favor him are counted.

“So we’re here until Thursday,” one of the supporters joked. 

Meijer, who did not talk to reporters, is one of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump following the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the Capitol.