Voters in Ohio, Kentucky, Virginia, Mississippi and Elsewhere Head to the Polls for Off-Year Elections

Voters in Ohio, Kentucky, Virginia, Mississippi, and other states are going to the polls on Tuesday for off-year elections. These elections will provide insights into the strength of the abortion issue in the face of President Biden’s low approval ratings, as politicians gear up for the upcoming presidential election year. The results could determine the Democrats’ stance on key issues like abortion, which was a bright spot for the party in a recent New York Times/Siena poll that showed Donald J. Trump leading President Biden in five critical swing states.

What to Watch

Abortion access vs. Biden’s unpopularity in Virginia and Kentucky:

All 140 seats in Virginia’s General Assembly are up for election, with Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin hoping to capture the State Senate and secure total Republican control of Richmond. Democrats are running on abortion rights, warning that G.O.P. control would end abortion access in the last state in the Southeast. A similar dynamic is playing out in Kentucky, where Democrats have focused on the abortion issue to attack the Republican challenger for governor, Daniel Cameron.

Will voters in Ohio back abortion rights?

Ohio, a reliably Republican state, will have a referendum to establish a right to abortion under the state constitution. This referendum will test where Republicans stand on the issue. Abortion rights groups have been successful with ballot measures on abortion access since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. However, abortion opponents have scored victories leading up to the referendum. Voters in Ohio historically tend to reject ballot amendments, so the outcome remains uncertain.

In Mississippi, a test of expanding Medicaid — and scandal:

Mississippi’s abortion ban brought down Roe v. Wade, but the candidates for governor have not made abortion the central issue. Instead, the Democratic challenger, Brandon Presley, has focused on expanding Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act and a public corruption scandal involving misspent federal funds. The incumbent Republican governor, Tate Reeves, has three advantages that could prove impenetrable: incumbency, party affiliation, and the endorsement of Donald J. Trump.

Ballot initiatives, from wealth to weed:

Voters in Ohio will decide whether to legalize recreational marijuana use, potentially making Ohio the 24th state to do so. Texans will decide on 14 constitutional amendments, including one that would bar the state from imposing a wealth tax. The outcome of these initiatives could have implications for national legislation on marijuana legalization and taxing the wealthy.

Texans will also vote on raising the mandatory retirement age of state judges.