Virginians shift focus to next legislative election
Activists must win again in 2024 to get ballot initiative before voters
Virginia activists had a two-step plan for enshrining abortion rights within the state constitution.
It all centers on the requirements to get a ballot initiative before voters. They must capture the state legislature for two consecutive sessions to do so. Since their victory last week, they have turned their attention to winning again in 2024. A constitutional amendment in Virginia must pass through the legislature twice with an intervening election. The first reading will happen in the next session.
“We can start now that we have majorities in both the House and Senate,” said Jamie Lockhart, executive director of Planned Parenthood Advocates of Virginia.
Virginia races were and are highly competitive. In one, a candidate lost by 74 votes. In another, the person lost by 183 votes.
“We won a tight majority,” Lockhart said. “But several races were incredibly close.”
The recent victory shows the growing appeal of abortion rights as a plank on the Democratic platform. Planned Parenthood endorsed 108 candidates for office in Virginia. It invested nearly $1,000,000 in Senate races and $900,000 in House races. They had 450 volunteers make phone calls, knock on doors, and hold campaign rallies. Many of the supporters came from college chapters supporting Planned Parenthood.
During the campaign, many of the antiabortion politicians saw the changing winds in abortion politics. They tried to downplay their support for antiabortion policies. So, they wanted to rebrand themselves and their proposed regulations.
“They tried to call them limits or consensus or compromises all to try to distract voters from their true intent, which is to ultimately ban abortion,” Lockhart said.
While the ballot initiative is the main focus, Lockhart said they also have other legislative priorities. They want to protect reproductive health data with privacy laws. Birth control must be more accessible to poorer people.