Friend,

Let's start with the good news: Abortion rights WON last night! The "red wave" that pundits expected never happened, and that’s 100% because women and young people showed up to fight for reproductive freedom.

Last night proved what we’ve known for so long: that we must go all-in on our reproductive freedoms because this is a prochoice country. Abortion rights are undefeated on the ballot — in California, Vermont, Michigan, and Kentucky (and it’s likely in Montana) voters came out to protect abortion access.

There is no state where a majority of people want the government to interfere in their reproductive decisions. Full stop.

Last night also proved that expanding the electorate is a winning strategy, and investing in young voters and less frequent voters remains key to future victories. Because of your support, we registered tens of thousands of new voters in priority areas, and those voters made all the difference.

Now, let’s talk about Michigan!

Prochoice voters turned out to enshrine abortion rights into the State Constitution. Because of this win, Michigan remains a safe haven for abortion patients from surrounding states with bans. And the stakes couldn’t have been higher: without this initiative, an abortion ban from the 1930s could have gone into effect, criminalizing abortion in Michigan.

Our wins don’t stop there: this is the first time Democrats will control the state legislature in 40 years, which means Governor Whitmer will no longer be alone fighting for reproductive freedoms!

We're so proud of all of our candidates, of our programming, and of being a part of the ecosystem that delivered these huge wins.

We didn’t take all of the wins we hoped for in North Carolina, but we successfully fought to stop a Republican supermajority in the state. Crucially, this prevents the GOP from overriding the prochoice Governor’s vetoes and keeps the door open for us to continue our work. If Republicans had achieved a super majority, it would have been absolutely devastating for reproductive rights in North Carolina. Still, it remains clear that we must continue to register young people and expand our electorate to win.

Lastly, despite the GOP investing millions in attacks, Democrats in south Texas held the line! Lina Hidalgo, one of our candidates in a top priority area held her seat as Harris County judge, where she will continue to be a stalwart champion for reproductive and LGBTQ+ rights. Wins in south Texas and in down-ballot races across the country showed that where we invest in young voters, and in Black and Brown voters, we win.

Because of your support, we distributed our voter guide in the places it mattered most, and we’re already seeing the results of that: voter guide use spiked in places like Cincinnati and Akron, where Democrats ended up winning hotly contested seats. We’re keeping an eye on the results in yet-to-be-called local races, but we once again saw that we can gain ground, even when odds are tough.

But let’s be real about some of the less good news:

It is unacceptable that anti-choice politicians outspent us when it comes to Spanish-language campaign materials

It is unacceptable that Black rural voters in places like North Carolina reported not being contacted by any party effort before Election Day.

It is unacceptable that Democrats did not heavily invest in voter registration and resources for young and new voters.

We must be honest about how our movement needs to do better, even in moments of victory.

Nevertheless, this could end up being the best midterm performance by a party in the White House in 20 years, and that's absolutely thanks to the prochoice majority of this country who registered and who showed up, even in areas without enough investment by the traditional Democratic infrastructure.

And to be clear: there are TOUGH battles ahead. We can’t stop fighting now just because we overperformed pundit expectations.

We’ll be back to work soon enough, focusing on new opportunities to rebuild reproductive freedom in places like Kentucky, Virginia, and Georgia, working to protect patients and providers at the state and community levels in 2023 and beyond.

Thank you for being a part of this fight, we could not have had these wins without you,

Sara Tabatabaie
Chief Political and Communications Officer
#VOTEPROCHOICE