John,

This is not the moment we wanted, to put it mildly. Votes are still being counted, but we know: There has been a tremendous shift to the right in this country. And if you’re experiencing grief, it’s because this work is so important, and the implications of this moment are devastating.

Over the coming days, we’ll hear theories of what went wrong… but with shifts this widespread, a VP pick, or a podcast episode, or any other specific campaign tactic would not have prevented this outcome.

So looking at the “abortion election,” what do we know?

On our end, we saw mixed results, but there was a major policy/candidate divide last night.

Pro-choice ballot measures did very well. Voters protected reproductive freedom in our priority states – places like Arizona, Nevada, and ruby-red Missouri. While pro-choice efforts in Florida did not succeed, they delivered 58% of the vote – just shy of the 60% required threshold. A majority of Floridians voted to protect abortion access. In another state, that would be considered a decisive victory.

Americans support our policies and our pro-choice values. But the work to build governing power for reproductive freedom has never been more urgent.

There’s an important distinction between now and 2016:

Arkadi Gerney and Sarah Knight made this point earlier (it’s worth a read), and it’s a little wonky. Hear me out…

In 2016, Democrats had trifectas in 7 states. That means Democrats controlled the state government via the governor’s office, state house, and state senate. Republicans had trifectas in 23 states.

Since then, Republicans have been leveraging their state power to prepare for this moment. The attacks on abortion, the migrant busing, the anti-trans laws...All of it came out of Republican power in the states. They leveraged the power they had in states to set the national agenda.

When the counting is done, we will have somewhere between 15-17 trifectas on our side. Much more power at the state level than before.

State power is not how Democrats typically envision their work because our values support national rights and national access. But state power is at the heart of the work that lies ahead. And at Vote Pro-Choice, 80% of our programs are at the state and local levels.

Listen – it’s really bad. I could barely look at my daughter this morning without tears. And I’m aware that the consequences of this outcome will not be felt equally.

But the Vote Pro-Choice team is moving into a special election next week, one that could impact the future of an abortion rights ballot measure in Virginia. Building power happens all year, every year, and that’s our job.

Thank you for being with us. We remain unwavering in our commitment to abortion access. And to you.

With all my love,

Sara Tabatabaie
Executive Director
Vote Pro-Choice