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They were disparate elections in different states—for governor, state Senate, a supreme court seat and on a constitutional amendment. But the results of off-year races on Tuesday pointed in one direction: Voters will come to the polls to defend abortion rights. In the Republican strongholds of Ohio and Kentucky, as well as politically purple Virginia and Pennsylvania, abortion-rights supporters spent millions of dollars to tell voters that GOP lawmakers couldn’t be trusted to set state abortion policy after the Supreme Court last year eliminated a right to the procedure under the U.S. Constitution. (Zitner and Kusisto, 11/8)

The results amounted to a resounding victory for abortion rights, proving once again that the issue can energize a broad coalition of Democrats, independents and even some moderate Republicans. As the country heads into the 2024 presidential election, the Republican Party continues to search for an answer to a topic that has vexed them since the fall of Roe. Democrats, meanwhile, face a daunting question of their own, in a year when President Biden’s record, personal brand and perceptions of his fitness to serve another term will be inescapable. Will abortion still pack enough of an electoral punch to overcome Mr. Biden’s political weaknesses? (Lerer and Goldmacher, 11/8)

The results sent a stark signal about enduring demands across the political spectrum to protect access to abortion more than a year after Roe v. Wade was overturned by the Supreme Court, heralding potentially far-reaching implications for the 2024 election. They offered more evidence that the end of Roe and the patchwork of abortion bans that followed have given Democrats a powerful argument to turn out their base and sway moderates and some Republicans. And they reaffirmed that GOP candidates who support restrictions are still struggling to find an effective message, even as some have tried to soften their pitch. (Knowles and Kitchener, 11/8)

Democratic strategist Jesse Ferguson said it's not "a question of Republicans retooling their message or finding a new slogan or trying to sell people on something that people don’t want." “We now have the 2022 midterms, the Wisconsin Supreme Court race, the other ballot measures, Kansas and tonight’s results,” Ferguson continued, rattling off the list of victories by abortion-rights supporters since Roe was overturned. “This is not some referendum on the status quo. This is people showing they’re worried about the consequences that come from extremism … in red states like Kentucky, purple states in Virginia and everything in between." (Edelman, 11/8)

On Fox News Tuesday night, Kayleigh McEnany said the vote continued "the losing streak in the pro-life movement." McEnany added: "Every ballot initiative has been lost post-Dobbs for the pro-life movement." The Republican Party, she said, needs to "not just be a pro-baby party.... We must be a pro-mother party." She added that the GOP needs a national strategy "to help vulnerable women because the results of next year's election could be determined by that." (Rahman, 11/7)

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments Tuesday about whether the federal government can require Texas hospitals to perform life-saving abortions, despite the state’s near-total ban on the procedure. After the overturn of Roe v. Wade, President Joe Biden issued guidance to federally funded hospitals, reminding them of their obligation to provide stabilizing health care to anyone who shows up at the emergency room, even if that care requires performing an abortion. (Klibanoff, 11/7)