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Abortion and Donald Trump will both appear on Novembers ballot. On Tuesday, Pat Ryan, a Democrat and a decorated Iraq war veteran, upset Republican Marc Molinaro in a special congressional election in New Yorks Upper Hudson Valley. Ryan won 52-48 after pre-election polls had painted him as the clear underdog.

This is a huge victory for Dems in a bellwether, Biden +1.5 district, according to Dave Wasserman, the doyen of congressional-race watchers, with the key words being huge and bellwether. Said differently, Republican efforts to convert the contest into a referendum on the Democrats and inflation failed.

On the campaign trail Ryan made abortion a central issue. Choice is [on] the ballot, but we wont go back, he posted to Facebook hours before the polls opened. Freedom is under attack, but its ours to defend.

Usually, midterms spell disaster for the in party that controls the White House. From the looks of things, 2022 may be different.

There is a clear backlash against the US supreme courts evisceration of the rights to privacy and personal autonomy. At the same time, nonstop reports of Trumps mishandling of top-secret documents, and possible obstruction of justice charges against the 45th president, cloud his partys future.

The end of Roe v Wade is not the blessing Republicans had assumed it would be. Looking back, the defeat of Kansass anti-abortion referendum was not a one-off event.

For the courts majority, it appears that being right was more important than being smart. Ginni Thomass husband and four of his colleagues could have upheld Mississippis abortion law without demolishing a half-century of precedent.

Chief Justice Roberts concurrence made that reality crystal clear. Yet around the country, Republican candidates still appear hellbent on doubling-down.

Tudor Dixon, Michigans Republican candidate for governor, spoke of the upside of a 14-year-old rape victim carrying the child to term. The bond that those two people made and the fact that out of that tragedy there was healing through that baby, its something that we dont think about, Dixon told an interviewer.

Meanwhile, in Florida, an appellate court affirmed a lower courts order that barred a parentless 16-year-old from ending her pregnancy. The unnamed mother-to-be had failed to demonstrate that she was sufficiently mature to decide whether to terminate her pregnancy.

On the other hand, the learned judges and the Republican state legislature believed her to be sufficiently adult to deliver and raise a child.

And then there is Texas. Later this week, physicians who perform abortions stand to face life in prison and fines of at least $100,000. Under Texass current law, abortions are banned after six weeks, and the states statute contains no exceptions for rape or incest.

Heading into the fall, Democrats will also be bolstered by Joe Bidens slowly rising approval numbers, tamer inflation figures, and the emergence of democracys precarity as a campaign issue. According to a recent NBC poll, the threat to US democracy has overtaken the cost of living as the No 1 issue for voters.

Or, in the words of Congressman-elect Ryan, Our democracy is fragile, but we will fight for it.

Adding to Republican woes is the poor performance of Trump-endorsed Senate candidates in pre-election trial heats. In Arizona, Pennsylvania and Georgia, they all lag.

By the numbers, forecasters give the Democrats better than a three-in-five chance of continuing to control the upper chamber and leaving their imprimatur on Biden judicial nominations. These days, even Senator Mitch McConnell concedes that the odds of him again becoming majority leader are iffy: Flipping the Senate Its a 50/50 proposition I think the outcome is likely to be very, very close either way.

He also reminded Republicans that running for Senate is not the same thing as running for a House seat albeit with a louder and larger microphone. Senate races are statewide, McConnell observed. Theyre just different in nature from individual congressional districts.

Apparently, Senator Rick Scott, the chairman of the Republican National Senatorial Committee, has not yet noticed. First, he burned-through a pile of campaign cash. Now, he has been spotted vacationing on a luxury yacht off the coast of Italy while Americans struggle.

On Monday, Scott tweeted: Another week of President Biden vacationing in Delaware vs. working at the White House. Cluelessness is not just the province of Justices Alito, Thomas and Kavanaugh.

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Republicans thought they had midterms in the bag. Voters just rejected them again - The Guardian