If it's Monday… Death toll from flooding in Kentucky rises to 28… First grain shipment leaves Ukraine since Russian blockade… Senate Democrats push to vote on reconciliation deal this week, but need all 50 members in favor and present, NBC's Sahil Kapur reports… Democrats also hope to pass legislation blocked by Republicans helping veterans exposed to toxic burn pits… NBC's Mike Memoli writes that the Biden White House is bracing for a challenging August… And Joe Manchin raises eyebrows with answer about the midterms.
But FIRST… Out of all of Tuesday's contests we'll be covering, the biggest might very well be the statewide constitutional amendment on abortion in Kansas.
It's the first election on abortion since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. And NBC's Dasha Burns and Abigail Brooks have fresh reporting on the contest, where Kansans will vote either:
- YES to change the state's constitution to spell out that a right to an abortion isn't guaranteed (after the state's Supreme Court ruled in 2019 that it did);
- or NO to keep the state's constitution as is.
On what happens if YES wins on Tuesday?
"I think we're going to see [abortion] restrictions very soon. Kansas has long had abortion at the center of its politics," Emily Wales, CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Plains, told Burns.
"It paves the way for future conversations [on abortion bans/restrictions] to be able to happen," said Danielle Underwood, spokesperson for the Value Them Both Coalition, which is leading the YES campaign. "I want to see a future where Kansans are involved in the discussion. Their unelected judges don't decide for the rest of us the right kinds of limits on abortion in our state… And the passing the amendment is the only way for once for us to once again to be involved in this discussion."
On what YES proponents ultimately want if the constitutional amendment passes?
"I hope that we pass the [amendment] on Aug. 2. And then and then we'll see what happens. I honestly don't know. And again, I haven't talked to people about it. I don't really know what's next," said state Rep. Susan Humphries, a Republican.
On why the vote is taking place on a primary day in August, rather than a general election?
"I think that that is a very significant obstacle for us. I think that the decision to put it on the primary ballot was intentional," said Ashley All, a spokesperson for Kansans for Constitutional Freedom, which is leading the NO effort. "And I think the hope was that fewer Kansans would vote."
"From our perspective, [August] was a good date to have it, because it allowed enough time for the people of Kansas to learn about the amendment to get informed about the truth of the amendment," countered Value Them Both's Underwood. "It didn't enter into that cloud of other … activity that surrounds a general election, so to allow the people of Kansas to really focused on this very important question before them."
Our take: Given Kansas' red political hue and the August election date, NO keeping it close would demonstrate the power that the abortion decision has given Democrats since Roe v. Wade's overturn.
And a NO victory would be quite the statement.
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