Democrats seem to have flipped a essential Senate seat within the Virginia legislature on Tuesday — doubtless safeguarding the state from enacting a 15-week abortion ban.
Aaron Rouse, a former NFL participant and Virginia Seaside councilmember, holds a slender lead over Republican Kevin Adams, a Navy veteran, as of Wednesday morning. The particular election was held to fill a swing-district seat vacated by Republican Jen Kiggans after she was elected to the U.S. Home in November.
It was a decent race, with Rouse taking 50.41% of the votes and Adams 49.51%, based on the Virginia Public Access Project. Rouse at the moment leads Adams by simply 348 votes. Though Virginia Public Entry Challenge referred to as the race for Rouse ― and Rouse and Democrats have claimed victory ― absentee ballots are nonetheless being counted. As of Wednesday morning, Adams had not conceded.
“THANK YOU! Together with your help, and the help of voters from throughout Virginia Seaside and Norfolk, we now have gained this Particular Election,” Rouse tweeted on Tuesday evening. “No relaxation for the weary – tomorrow, we head to Richmond to get to work for Virginia households.”
The election attracted big money from either side of the aisle as a result of its end result will doubtless have an outsized affect on the destiny of abortion rights in Virginia. Rouse is pro-choice and promised to “fiercely shield the best to an abortion,” whereas Adams opposes abortion and supported a 15-week ban with exceptions for rape, incest and the lifetime of the pregnant particular person.
Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) first hinted at the potential of a 15-week abortion ban in December when he proposed allocating $50,000 to ascertain such a ban within the state price range. Youngkin, a possible 2024 presidential candidate, initially painted himself as a average on abortion rights on the marketing campaign path in 2021 however rapidly modified his tune as soon as in workplace.
“I’m proud to be a pro-life governor and plan to take each motion I can to guard life,” Youngkin mentioned in a statement to the press lower than an hour after the Supreme Court docket repealed federal abortion protections final summer time.
“Any invoice that involves my desk, I’ll signal fortunately and gleefully with a view to shield life,” Youngkin told a bunch of supporters days later.
If Rouse’s slender lead holds, his win solidifies a 21-18 Democratic majority within the state Senate. Nonetheless, state Sen. Joe Morrissey, an anti-abortion Democrat, has mentioned he can be open to supporting a restriction if laws made it to the Senate flooring. If Adams makes a comeback, Morrissey’s swing vote might make a slim Democratic majority primarily ineffective for safeguarding abortion rights.
Whereas a 15-week abortion ban could seem average in a post-Roe world the place almost a dozen states have near-total abortion bans, it will have enormous penalties for Virginians and different individuals in search of care from neighboring states. Presently, Virginia permits abortion by the second trimester of being pregnant and into the third if the mom’s life is in danger. As well as, it’s one among a handful of states that permits abortion by the twenty eighth week of being pregnant, making it a secure haven for abortions later in being pregnant.
“We’re thrilled to congratulate Sen.-elect Aaron Rouse who valiantly and unapologetically made this particular election about defending abortion rights,” Jamie Lockhart, government director of Deliberate Parenthood Advocates of Virginia, mentioned in a Tuesday evening assertion.
“The voters of SD-07 responded loudly and clearly that they wish to see abortion protected, not banned ― as do nearly all of Virginians all all through the commonwealth. When our rights are on the road, voters present up in help of reproductive freedom,” she continued. “This can be a essential victory for well being care entry and the way forward for abortion rights in our commonwealth, and we sit up for working with Sen.-elect Rouse and all of our allies within the Normal Meeting who will boldly champion Virginians’ freedom this legislative session.”
