LATEST POST-ELECTION UPDATES

Reproductive Rights Were

on the Ballot on November 8th

By Ashley, NARJ Co-Founding Member

At our September NARJ meeting, we agreed that the most important action we could take in the coming months would be supporting our pro-reproductive rights candidates on the ballot in November. We focused our volunteer efforts on female candidates from Norwalk - Stephanie Thomas for Secretary of the State, Dominique Johnson for the 143rd district of the CT State House of Representatives, and Lucy Dathan for the 142nd district of the CT State House of Representatives. We phone banked, door knocked, texted, assembled and distributed lawn signs, addressed envelopes, and wrote postcards for these candidates and are THRILLED to announce that they all won their races on November 8th!

Across the board, Norwalk (and most of Connecticut!) voted to uphold reproductive rights. Bob Duff won his race in Norwalk and Darien for CT State Senate. Along with Dominique and Lucy, Kadeem Roberts won in the 137th district for the CT State House of Representatives, and Travis Simms ran unopposed for the 140th district of the CT State House of Representatives. Ned Lamont won the race for Governor of CT, along with a slate of talented pro-choice democrats in all major positions at the state level. Richard Blumenthal won his race for the US Senate, and democrats won all 5 US House of Representative seats in CT, including Jim Himes here in Fairfield County.

At our October NARJ meeting, we wrote postcards through Activate America to pro-choice voters in PA, encouraging them to get out and vote for John Fetterman for US Senate in the midterm elections. We are relieved that John Fetterman won his race against Dr. Oz, flipping that PA Senate seat from red to blue!

A few more notable victories for reproductive rights across the country (from @so.informed on Instagram):

- Voters in Vermont voted to codify abortion rights in their state constitution

- Voters in Michigan voted to protect the right to abortion in their state constitution

- Voters in Kentucky rejected an amendment to the state constitution

that would have banned abortion

- Voters in California voted to codify abortion rights in their state constitution

We are so relieved to have had so many women and Gen Zers get out to vote to protect reproductive rights here in CT and around the country! And yet there are still so many states where reproductive rights are restricted (or nonexistent), so there is still so much work to be done. Please join us for our meeting on Wednesday, December 14th, at Eco Evolution in Norwalk as we plan our next actions to support to defend reproductive justice at home and around the US.

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NOVEMBER REMINDER:

NO MEETING AT ECO EVOLUTION WEDS, ON NOVEMBER 16TH. CANCELLED SO WE CAN ALL CATCH OUR BREATHS!

DECEMBER REMINDER:

OUR NEXT MEETING IS DECEMBER 14TH AT ECO EVOLUTION - THERE WILL BE A SHORT BUSINESS MEETING FOLLOWED BY A CELEBRATORY HOLIDAY SOCIAL

NOTES:

NEWSLETTER WRITERS, OPINION LETTERS, AND PERSONAL REFLECTIONS ARE WELCOME. PARTICULARLY DECEMBER-JANUARY AS OUR NORMAL WRITER FINISHES HER GRADUATE DEGREE. PLEASE INQUIRE. WE GROW FROM OUR COLLECTIVE VOICES AND STORIES. REFLECTIONS ON THE ELECTIONS AND PASSIONATE IDEAS ABOUT OUR FUTURE ARE ALL WELCOME. SUBMIT TO MELISSA.NARJ@GMAIL.COM