2023 November Election Results and What We Can Look for in 2024 for Democrats

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By Christian Schamberger

Fears loomed over this year’s election cycle as predictions pointed toward lower turnout rates relative to previous “off-year” elections. Even amid these fears, Democrats came out with tremendous victories last Tuesday in Centre County, Pennsylvania, and the rest of the country.

The protection of abortion rights stood strong as voters cast their ballot for pro-choice candidates across the country. Three main victories include:

1. In Ohio, voters enshrined the right to abortion in the state constitution by voting 56.6% “yes” on their ballots for Issue 1 which would protect “abortions up to fetal viability.”

2. The Virginia state house was a key race on last Tuesday as Governor Youngkin (R.) was looking to pass limitations to abortion rights if Republicans controlled both chambers. Democrats continued to hold onto the state senate and flipped the state house blue.

3. Governor Andy Beshear of Kentucky held his position in office even in the deep-red state of Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul.

Due to threats from the United States Supreme court to continue to unravel rights for Americans, these results are a byproduct of those moves as States become more important battle grounds for the protection of these rights.

In Pennsylvania, the judicial races took the national spotlight as seats for the Supreme Court, Superior Court, and Commonwealth Court were up for grabs. As building off the trend in most states, Democrats continued to roll with victories as they grabbed every major court seat this election cycle.

Dan McCaffery (D.) won the Supreme Court seat by almost a six-point margin to his opposition Carolyn Carluccio (R.). The court will now be split favorably by five democrats and two republicans. This will be important as they make decisions on abortion and gun rights cases for Pennsylvanians.

Jill Beck (D.) and Tamika Lane (D.) snagged both seats on the lower-appellate Superior Court. The court is now split evenly by seven Republican and seven Democratics. This court hears civil and criminal cases that come from the county courts.

Matt Wolf (D.) won the open seat on the Commonwealth Court by a tighter margin compared to Dan McCaffery’s win on the Supreme Court. The Commonwealth Court still holds a Republican majority by five to three on the nine-seat branch. This court also hears cases from the county courts. More specifically, it examines appeals that involve civil cases involving governance of local and state governments plus regulatory agencies.

Centre County continued to hold blue as Democrats swept the board in many key municipal races in our area:

1. With the County Commissioners races, both Mark Higgins (D.) and Amber Concepcion (D.) retained their seats on the board with victories against Steven Dershem (R.) and Marie Librizzi (R.).

2. Jason Moser (D.) and Colleen Kennedy (D.) won their elections for County Controller and Treasurer respectively.

3. Democratic candidates for the State College Area School District (SCASD) swept republican candidates in every seat.

Lower turnout across the nation did not seem to stop the wave which Democrats have been riding since the 2020 election cycle. 2024 is just around the corner and voters will need to continue to show their

unwavering support for the protection of these rights which are being unraveled by the U.S. supreme court. In terms of the presidential races, Joe Biden is still falling behind in the polls compared to Donald Trump and Democrats will need to make up ground in the next year to keep the executive blue. With the conflict in Israel looming over Joe Bidens approval, he will have to make significant decisions in the next year to have a hope of winning for reelection. Governors’ races are also showing to be extremely important as many republican governors have been supporters for passing bills to limit abortion access for people of this country. Democrats were victorious last Tuesday in these statewide and local races. This biggest questions Democrats will have to answer is will these wins translate to the major, federal elections of next year.

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