Barack Obama Elected President!
Pro-Choice Minnesotans spoke loud and clear on November 4th and overwhelmingly supported NARAL Pro-Choice Minnesota’s endorsed candidate Barack Obama.
After eight years of the Bush administrations attacks on reproductive rights, the nominations of extremely anti-choice Supreme Court Justices Alito and Roberts, and failed abstinence only sex education the time for change had come. President-elect Obama has a proven track record of defending reproductive rights. He supports age appropriate sex education and he has the courage and wisdom to appoint Supreme Court Justices who will defend Roe v Wade.
As the sponsor of the Freedom of Choice Act Barack Obama is moving the right to choose beyond being a Supreme Court decisions to the law of the land. With this act we will no longer have to face abortion bans or fear Supreme Court appointments, the right to choose will be guaranteed!
We would like to thank everyone who has volunteered time to help get Obama elected. Thank you for each and every action you took to make this possible and thank you for being part of the 54% of Minnesota who said “yes we can” on Election Day!
Al Franken Senate Race Undecided
Due to an incredibly close Senate vote count, an automatic recount of all votes cast for U.S. Senate will begin in mid-November. NARAL Pro-Choice Minnesota endorsed candidate Al Franken is currently behind in the vote count by fewer than 500 votes, out of the over 2.9 million votes cast. We will keep a close eye on this process and hope for a pro-choice victory in the Senate race.
Minnesota 2008 Election Results
While we saw many pro-choice victories, the 2008 Election cycle has brought a few defeats. We fought many hard battles, and we lost some strong supporters along the way. But we were also able to elect several strong new voices who we believe will carry the torch. In the end, the Minnesota House is still a mixed-choice body.
Overall, NARAL Pro-Choice Minnesota endorsed 76 candidates, and 62 of them were elected. That comes out to an 82% success rate! Among these legislators are six new pro-choice representatives. We welcome to the legislature:
Gail Kulick Jackson (DFL – 16A)
Mike Obermueller (DFL – 38B)
Paul Rosenthal (DFL – 41B)
Jerry Newton (DFL – 49B)
Bobby Joe Champion (DFL – 58B)
Jeffrey Hayden (DFL – 61B)
We look forward to working with these individuals and all others who support choice in Minnesota.
The excitement of these victories has somewhat been dampened by the losses of four strong supporters of choice:
Sandy Wollschlager (DFL – 28A)
Ken Tschumper (DFL – 31B)
Shelley Madore (DFL – 37A)
Ron Erhardt (R – 41A)
From the bottoms of our hearts, we at NARAL Pro-Choice Minnesota thank these legislators for their hard work. These legislators were some the cause’s strongest supporters and they will be greatly missed. We would like to say a special thank you to Ron Erhardt, who had been a strong advocate for choice for 18 years in the Minnesota House of Representatives. He was the last pro-choice Republican in the legislature, and he often had to endure the wrath of his party when he voted for choice. His strong principles and courage will lead a void in the legislature that cannot easily be filled.
This election cycle has brought so much energy into the process. At NARAL Pro-Choice Minnesota, volunteers and staff knocked on over 9,000 doors and made over 19,000 phone calls, showing the power of our voices. Our next goal must be to ensure that this energy does not dissipate and that we take advantage of the opportunity presented to us. We must all continue to raise our voices for choice as we fight for reproductive freedom.
