Virginia House Del. Jeffrey M. Bourne, left, stands onstage with Lashrecse D. Aird, center, who won her House District 63 race, and Virginia state Sen. Jennifer L. McClellan at a Democratic election watch party at Hilton Richmond Downtown on Nov. 5. (Matt McClain/The Washington Post)
Republican-controlled state legislatures are gearing up to try to tighten abortion laws across the country, while some states controlled by Democrats are looking to enshrine the right to choose into law.
It’s one of a handful of deeply polarizing issues that could dominate state legislatures in 2020, a potential sign of the partisan gridlock that’s to come — and the efforts to rally supporters during a hyperpartisan presidential election year.
With about 38 state legislatures set to reconvene in January, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, lawmakers are preparing to debate issues that affect life’s most intimate decisions. In Georgia, a Republican lawmaker wants to criminalize prescribing hormones for transgender youth. In California, criminal justice advocates are pushing to create “safe consumption” locations for drug addicts. And nationwide, antiabortion activists are gearing up for another round of efforts to curb access, with parental-notification requirements and bans on abortifacient medications.
The coming statehouse battles reflect the deepening divide in the United States’ culture wars, and advocates expect state policy debates will influence how voters think about the 2020 presidential election.
But centering those contentious issues risks alienating swing voters for both parties, said Andrew Taylor, a professor of political science at North Carolina State University.
“If there’s a sense that a state legislature is going too extreme, too unfair, too intolerant in either direction for moderate voters, this might make an impact,” Taylor said.
Republicans still control a majority of state capitals, holding 26 governorships and 29 state legislatures. But Democrats have made gains in statehouses for the past two years, including the November election of Kentucky’s governor and flipping both chambers of Virginia’s legislature.
Click here to read the entire article by Tim Craig and Emily Wax-Thibodeaux.
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