Midterm Voters Split on Abortion and Trans Healthcare Ballot Questions

ST. LOUIS — Voters’ sweeping support of Democratic candidates in Tuesday’s midterm election didn’t translate into similarly clear outcomes for ballot initiatives on abortion access and transgender issues. In Missouri, a state that President Donald Trump carried by an 18-point margin in 2024, voters rejected a proposal to ban both abortion and gender-affirming healthcare for transgender minors. Opponents of the measure celebrated the result with a mix of cheers, tears, hugs, and dancing at an election night watch party in St. Louis — as many of the same people had done only two years earlier when Missouri voters enshrined abortion protections in the state constitution. But in Washington state, which Trump lost by 18 percentage points in his most recent election, voters appeared to back a measure restricting trans kids’ participation in youth sports, with 60% of votes counted on Wednesday. Masaki Yoshikawa phone-banks for Let’s Go Washington, a group backing Initiative 638, which would prohibit transgender girls from competing in girls’ sports, on Oct. 19 in Bellevue, Washington. (Lindsey Wasson/AP Photo) Voters also supported proposed restrictions on trans athletes in youth sports i...