we were very intentional about starting first and foremost with who are the voters that can be vote mated by this issue, and how do we communicate with them. we approached this less from a position of partisan angle, but really, about what are the values that kansans hold around not just abortion, but around what it means to be a kansas, personal autonomy and personal liberty and freedom and partisanship was a secondary factor, we knew we needed to develop messages and strategies that cut across the political spectrum and that is everything from the way that we communicated with voters on television, in digital ad, ads to the field programs that we oning, talking to voters really across the state. . we had a very successful partner-driven field operation, where we built a broad coalition of grass roots organizations that were already doing the work, and it wasn t just your traditional partners on reproductive rights issues, we
0 by nearly 20 points. and what is remarkable about the outcome is that kansas republicans did everything they possibly could to stack the deck in their favor. for starters, they scheduled the vote during a typically aug of during the general election, in november, because yesterday s primary featured mostly republican candidates running against each other and therefore would presumably attract mostly republican voters. they made the language of the ballot measure so dense and confusing that the normal person would be hard-pressed to deciph ter at first glance what a yes or a no vote even meant. republican groups barraged out misleading text messages that meant it sound like yes would protect a woman s right to choose when in fact, the opposite was true. voter turnout was massive. far from the usual trickle of voters for an august primary in a midterm year. turnout approached presidential election levels. and the votes to defeat the anti-abortion measure didn t just come from the urban
important to recognize that right now that was the primary issue on the ballot. it will be a little bit of a mistake to go in the direction that jennifer reuben said earlier to assume that 60% of kansans are pro choice. it s that they are against extremism. that s the key thing to take away from here, that the republican extremism of putting such a thing on the ballot was rejected. when i m gonna be looking for that data driven narrative to tells me, how much of an increase in young people were there? because that s gonna be important come 2022. what was the suburban turnout looking like? how many republican women supported this, not because they are overwhelmingly pro-choice, because they do believe there should be some option and that this extremism cannot be accepted? i think this is an important thing.
you had talked to people yesterday, they would ve said many people would be looking to see if it was close and just to say well if it s this close in kansas, look what it can be in another state. instead, it s about 25 points. that s almost unheard of. if you want to unify future americans who are supposedly divided on everything, democrats or republicans can agree on anything, over 60% of kansans agree i m pro-choice initiatives. so i think this is gonna be important for every office, for judges who are on the ballot on many states, states with court justices. i think that we are going to see a real revolution and a real uprising. i think the republicans may have expected everyone to roll over and just give up, throw up their hands because the supreme court said, there s no right to abortion so there s no right to abortion. that was the opening bell and
see if it was close and just to say well if it s this close in kansas, look what it can be in another state. instead, it s about 25 points. that s almost unheard of. if you want a unify future americans who are supposedly divided on everything, democrats or republicans can agree on anything, over 60% of kansans agree on pro-choice initiatives. so i think this is gonna be important for every office, for judges who are on the ballot in many states, states with supreme court justices. i think that we are going to see a real revolution and a real uprising. i think the republicans may have expected everyone to roll over and just give up, throw up their hands because the supreme court said, there s no right to abortion so there s no right to abortion. that was the opening bell and now i think you are seeing the