The high stakes have brought increased money and attention to state-level races, which are typically overshadowed in midterm elections by the race for control of Congress. President Joe Biden and former presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump, who have been campaigning in recent weeks for gubernatorial candidates across the country, spent part of the final weekend before Election Day rallying with their party’s candidates in the hub state of pennsylvania. Democrats are fighting to retain control of the state governor — along with those in Wisconsin and Michigan — to retain the power to veto any legislation from the three state’s Republican-controlled legislatures that might limit rights. of abortion and access to vote. At Saturday’s rallies in Pennsylvania, Democrat Josh Shapiro and Republican challenger Doug Mastriano each emphasized their race’s impact on the state’s future. “It’s your rights, it’s your future that’s on the line,” Shapiro said in Philadelphia. Mastriano told supporters in Latrobe that “a vote for Josh Shapiro is a vote to destroy the future of Pennsylvania.” Republican victories in presidential battleground states, including Arizona, could have implications for the 2024 White House election. The party’s candidates in many such states have embraced Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was stolen. In all, 36 of the nation’s 50 states will elect governors on Tuesday, with the majority safely either Democratic or Republican. Republicans hold 28 governorships nationwide, compared to 22 Democratic governorships. In Florida, polls show Republican incumbent Ron DeSandis poised to defeat Democratic challenger Charlie Crist ahead of DeSandis’ widely expected run for president in 2024. In Texas, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott is expected to win a third term despite a spirited campaign by his Democratic opponent, former U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke. Georgia Republican Gov. Brian Kemp also appears likely to prevail over Democratic challenger Stacey Abrams in a rematch of their 2018 race. Democrats are expected to unseat Republican-controlled governors in the states of Maryland and Massachusetts, but face tough battles in some other Democratic states. A three-way race in Oregon could result in a Republican winning the state’s governorship for the first time in 40 years. Democrat Tina Kotek and Republican Christine Drazan are locked in a close battle for the open seat, and independent candidate Betsy Johnson, a former Democrat, could potentially steal votes from Kotek. Biden campaigned Sunday in New York, where Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul’s lead in polls over Republican challenger Lee Zeldin has shrunk to single digits as Zeldin has hammered the crime issue. No Republican has won statewide office in New York in 20 years.
ABORTION RIGHTS AND DEMOCRACY
As with congressional races across the country, Democratic gubernatorial candidates have warned of the threats Republicans could pose to abortion rights and the election if they win on Tuesday. Republicans have focused heavily on crime and the economy, blaming inflation on Democratic policies. Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has made abortion a centerpiece of her re-election campaign in Michigan, where voters will also consider a measure that would protect abortion rights in the state constitution. Her Republican opponent, Trump-backed conservative commentator Tudor Dixon, supports a near-total abortion ban but says the issue is not an issue in the governor’s race because of the ballot. Wisconsin Democratic incumbent Tony Evers faces a strong challenge from Republican construction magnate Tim Michels, who has vowed to enforce the 19th-century abortion ban that Evers is challenging in court. Michels has expressed concerns about how he would handle future elections, telling supporters at a recent campaign event that “Republicans will never lose another election in Wisconsin after I’m elected governor.” In Pennsylvania, the governor appoints the secretary of state, who oversees the administration of elections. Mastriano has repeated Trump’s false claims of voter fraud and was present at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, to protest the outcome of the 2020 presidential election. Shapiro, the state attorney general who leads polls for the open seat, has characterized Mastriano as too extreme for Pennsylvania. Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, has echoed that sentiment in her race against Republican Kari Lake, a former news anchor, in one of the nation’s closest gubernatorial races. Hobbs gained national attention in 2020 when she defended Arizona’s election results against Trump’s false allegations of fraud. Trump-endorsed Lake repeated his claims and said she would not have certified a Biden victory in Arizona. He has vowed to ban postal voting if he wins. “It’s a difficult time,” said Clarence Lusane, who chairs the political science department at Howard University. “If someone like Kari Lake or some of the others actually get some real power, they’ve made it pretty clear what they’re going to try to do, and that’s tip the scale unfairly.” Report by Daniel Trotta. Additional reporting by Jarrett Renshaw in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Daniel Wallis Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
