Marilyn Lands, who supported abortion rights in Alabama, won a special election for the Alabama Legislature. Democrats say her win shows that voters are upset with the strict reproductive laws made by Republicans.
Lands, a Democrat, won the House of Representatives seat in a suburban area that used to be held by the Republican party. He defeated Teddy Powell, the Republican candidate, in a clear and strong way. Democrats were happy about her win because they think it shows how important reproductive rights are for the 2024 elections.
“Voters want a change, and I think they are fed up with women not getting the freedom to make their own choices about their health care,” Lands said in a phone interview with The Associated Press.
Alabama says it’s not allowed to have an abortion at any time during a pregnancy, even if the pregnancy happened because of rape. After a few weeks of pausing in vitro fertilization services in the state, Lands finally won the case. This happened because the Alabama Supreme Court said that frozen embryos are the same as children.
Lands, a counselor for mental health, also talked about education and making the economy better. But she was very passionate about opposing the state’s law against abortion, and sometimes shared very personal stories to explain why. She told people about her experience of getting an abortion 20 years ago. The doctors found out that the baby had a genetic disorder called trisomy 13 and wouldn’t be able to live.
Lands decided to share her own story after talking to a woman who had to go to a different state to get an abortion because of the same fetal diagnosis.
I noticed similarities in our story. I told her my story. The story shows that after twenty years, women have less freedom compared to before.
As she went from house to house in the area, Lands noticed that many women were sharing their own experiences. Some were similar to hers. Some people had miscarriages or had trouble getting pregnant.
I think a lot of women’s and family health problems can make people feel very alone. And I hope that maybe by talking about this, we can make people see that these things happen a lot. – Lands said.
The Democrats won in a state in the Deep South, even though most of the statewide offices and the Legislature are held by Republicans.
Julie Chavez Rodriguez, who is managing President Joe Biden’s campaign for 2024, said that the results in Alabama are a strong warning for Trump. She said that voters do not support his efforts to limit reproductive health care.
John Wahl, who is the chairperson of the Republican Party in Alabama, disagreed that the race results show what will happen in other areas. He said not many people voted in the election in a place where both Democrats and Republicans could win.
“Wahl said that pretending this election represents the whole state of Alabama is not honest. It shows a lack of understanding of politics or an attempt to trick voters. ”
Land won in a district that is more middle-of-the-road in politics compared to other districts held by the GOP. The Madison County district includes some of Madison and Huntsville. Huntsville is where the Army’s Redstone Arsenal and NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center are located. In 2020, Donald Trump got 62% of the votes in Alabama, but only got about 53% in Madison County.
Almost 6,000 people voted in Tuesday’s special election. In 2022, over 14,000 people voted when Lands lost to Republican David Cole. The job in the government became available again because Cole quit and admitted to cheating in an election by renting a small space to say he lived there when he actually didn’t.
Previous United States Senator Doug Jones, the last Democrat to win a big election in Alabama, said that Land’s win was partially because people were angry about the extreme policies that the Republican party in the state put in place.
“They are going too far. ” “They are doing too much. ” You say the government should take strong action. “This government in Alabama wants to control every part of people’s lives,” Jones said.
He said that Lands’ win could be good for Democrats in future Alabama elections, but he warned not to read too much into it. Jones won the special election in 2017, but lost to the current U. SSenator in 2020. Tommy Tuberville is a person’s name.
“People thought my win in the 2017 election was a big deal, but Alabama didn’t actually become a blue state. ” Jones said that he doesn’t want to completely change the state in one direction or the other. He said that it’s not good for the state to have only one political party in charge, no matter which party it is.
Jones said we need competition, and Marilyn brought that.