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Democrats flipped the Virginia House of Delegates and held on to the state Senate in elections Tuesday, dashing Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s hopes for curbing abortion rights in Virginia, the only Southern state that has not restricted or banned the procedure since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year. By giving control of those two chambers to Democrats, voters denied Youngkin (R) the political allies he needed to ban most abortions after 15 weeks. The governor also lost his chance for turning Virginia sharply to the right in other areas, including public education, tax policy, LGBTQ+ rights, criminal justice, the environment and voting access. (Vozzella and Armus, 11/8)

With control of the legislature, Virginia Democrats will remain a “brick wall” against state Republicans’ conservative agenda. “It’s official: there will be absolutely no abortion ban legislation sent to Glenn Youngkin’s desk for the duration of his term in office, period,” said Sen. Mamie Locke, who leads the Democrats in the Senate. Locke and fellow Senate Democratic leaders raised bricks in the air while declaring victory to signify the wall that will block Republicans’ agenda. (Barclay, 11/7)

Gov. Youngkin chose a riskier path, putting all his chips on new restrictions on abortion, and on Tuesday, he lost that bet. Democrats have won back control of the state House of Delegates and kept the state Senate, a resounding win that means they can not only block his attempts to limit abortion but begin the process of putting a constitutional amendment guaranteeing abortion access before voters—a move he can’t yet veto. (Beckwith, 11/8)

Democrats won by running a campaign that was intensely focused on abortion rights. Virginia is one of the last states in the South that has any access to the procedure, and Democrats argued that a unified Republican government would threaten that. Abortion was far and away the top issue in Democratic ads throughout the race, mentioned about 2.5 times more frequently than the party’s second most-talked about issue, education, according to the advertising tracking firm AdImpact. (Montellaro, 11/8)

Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear will defeat Republican Daniel Cameron to win a second term in the highly watched race for Kentucky governor, Decision Desk HQ projects. Abortion and Cameron’s anti-abortion record became a key issue in the race between the two men — even though the governor’s office has little power over abortion policy. (Panetta, 11/7)

Superior Court Judge Daniel McCaffery, a Democrat, defeated Republican Judge Carolyn Carluccio in a closely watched race to fill a vacant Pennsylvania Supreme Court seat on Tuesday. McCaffery’s win is the latest in a string of victories for Democrats running on an abortion rights platform following the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 decision overturning Roe v. Wade and ending national abortion rights protections. His campaign was supported by state and national reproductive rights groups that spent millions on advertising and grassroots efforts in the highly competitive swing state. (Blumenthal, 11/7)

Final counts could not be made late Tuesday night, but Democrats won or led in virtually every competitive district Republicans needed to have a chance at regaining control in either chamber. That included Democrats reclaiming the Senate seat won by Republican Ed Durr in a national upset in 2021, when he defeated then-Senate President Steve Sweeney on a shoestring budget. Democrats also capitalized on backlash from the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 decision overturning Roe v. Wade, warning voters that New Jersey Republicans would chip away at abortion rights. (Racioppi, 11/8)