One Country Project

Good afternoon,

Here's the latest from rural America...

IN WISCONSIN SUPREME COURT ELECTION ABORTION SPARKING YOUTH VOTE, CHANGING ELECTION OUTCOMES AND MAPS

Last week, a record number of voters turned out for Wisconsin's state Supreme Court election that put Janet Protasiewicz on the bench. This win flips control of the court to a liberal majority for the first time in 15 years.
While Protasiewicz was branded as a liberal in the general election, it was her common sense reading of the law that appealed to Wisconsinites on a variety of issues, from gerrymandering to gun access to voting rights – but the biggest driving force behind the result was abortion.

GOP anti-abortion policies in the wake of Roe v. Wade's overturn turned out to be a severe political miscalculation: where abortion access is on the ballot, voters are turning out in droves and changing their states' election maps. Last week, Protasiewicz carried 27 counties, growing Biden's 2020 14 county advantage in suburban areas around metro areas.

OCP board member and Wisconsin Secretary of State Sarah Godlewski joined Hot Dish podcast host Joel Heitkamp on KFGO to emphasize how the fight for abortion rights "has only gotten stronger" as a motivating issue for Wisconsinites.
It's a particularly motivating factor for young voters and college students, who carried the counties of Eau Claire, La Crosse, and Brown, which are home to University of Wisconsin campuses. Brown, seat of UW-Green Bay, normally leans Republican in statewide elections. Protasiewicz won about 85 percent of the campus' vote to propel her to win 52 percent of the county.

The map of abortion access continues to evolve. Beyond the ballot, abortion medication continues to be a contentious topic across the country.

A federal judge in Texas blocked U.S. government approval of mifepristone, a key abortion medication, late Friday, siding against abortion advocates in an unprecedented lawsuit.

In a competing opinion a short time later, another federal judge in Washington ruled in a separate case that the drug is safe and effective, and ordered the FDA to preserve access.

The dueling decisions are likely to go to the Supreme Court for resolution – the same Court that issued the Dobbs ruling.

This afternoon, Vice President Kamala Harris convened the Task Force on Reproductive Healthcare Access to continue the administration's efforts to safeguard patient privacy and protect women's health in the wake of Friday's decision that took away women's basic freedoms.

OCP CONDEMS EXPULSION OF TWO TENNESSEE HOUSE DEMS

In a blatant assault on the democratic process, the Tennessee House of Representatives expelled State Reps. Justin Jones and Justin Pearson – both Black men – from the chamber after participating in a gun reform protest at the statehouse a week prior.

Rep. Gloria Johnson – a white woman – survived her expulsion vote as some Republican members defected to vote against the expulsion resolution.

While Reps. Jones and Pearson have now been reinstated, we simply cannot condone this sort of naked abuse of power by the Republican supermajority in Tennessee – or in any other state. Read OCP's full statement here.

MEDICAID COVERAGE RECEDES

Arizona, Arkansas, Idaho, New Hampshire, and South Dakota have recently started to terminate pandemic-era Medicaid coverage.
Children, young adults, Black, and Latinx people will be most affected – and risk being unable to pick up medications or access treatment for chronic conditions.
Medicaid coverage saves lives – during a four-year period, 19,200 more adults aged 55 to 65 survived thanks to expanded Medicaid coverage, and nearly 16,000 more would have lived if that coverage was extended nationwide.

Yet many seniors who are Medicaid beneficiaries are increasingly getting evicted from assisted-living facilities, while pandemic-induced economic conditions increased the number of seniors relying on Medicaid for long-term care and the number of seniors in America continues to grow. Chronically insufficient Medicaid funding is failing to keep up with the rising costs of care – and Americans of all ages are losing access to crucial healthcare as a result.

ECONOMIC UPDATE

The March CPI data released today shows encouraging signs of cooling inflation, marking the lowest inflation rate in nearly two years. Paired with last week's jobs report that observed an addition of 236,000 jobs, this news provides hope for a positive economic outlook for hardworking Americans.

However, OPEC's decision to cut oil production increased gas prices and Republican lawmakers' plan to cut funding for programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) are threatening to disrupt the country's historic post-pandemic recovery and increase pressures on rural Americans battling stubbornly high costs of living.

ONE COUNTRY IN THE NEWS

OCP founder Heidi Heitkamp spoke at the National Council of Textiles Organizations (NCTO) annual meeting to discuss domestic manufacturing.
OCP board member and WI Secretary of State Sarah Godlewski was elected Chair of the Board of the Wisconsin Board of Commissioner of Public Lands (BCPL).
OCP board member Anthony Daniels discussed California Governor Gavin Newsom's tour of red states, which included a visit to Alabama.