'Pro-democracy forces won!' Progressives laud victory over Ohio Issue 1 'power grab'

Progressives on Tuesday night lauded Ohio after Buckeye State voters decisively rejected an effort to raise the threshold for amending the state’s constitution ahead of a November referendum that would guarantee reproductive rights in the state’s constitution.

Ohio Issue 1 would have raised the threshold for passing constitutional amendments from a simple majority (50 percent plus 1) to 60 percent.

“Ohio Issue 1 defeated!” legal scholar Laurence Tribe wrote on his social media account. “The pro-democracy forces won!!

“Partly because the anti-democracy position was joined at the hip with Dobbs and misogyny. Reproductive freedom is driving self-government. Women’s rights are human rights. Liberty is indivisible.”

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) said on her social media account: “This HELL NO vote is win for liberty!”

She added: “The GOP ignored warnings signs as polls showed nearly 60% of voters were against the measure and nearly 60% support abortion access.”

“The GOP loses when they go after democracy and women’s right, but they keep (expletive) around and finding out.”

Actor and political activist George Takei in a social media post called the election result a “political earthquake.”

“Ohio is creating a political earthquake today felt across the nation,” he wrote. “GOP: Your extremism and anti-democratic scheming are going down to crushing defeat. And it’s going to get worse for you from here.”

Mary Trump, the former president’s outspoken niece, wrote “Thank you, Ohio. Democracy lives to fight another day. ❤️”

A spokesperson for a group opposing Issue 1 called the measure a “deceptive power grab” aimed at diminishing the power of the state’s voters, The Associated Press reports.

“Tonight is a major victory for democracy in Ohio,” One Person One Vote’s Dennis Willard said at a watch party, according to the report.

“The majority still rules in Ohio.”