retaken more than 1,000 square miles from russia. in just 48 hours russia retaliating by striking ukraine s power grid. is the war at a turning point? donald trump s legal team objecting to the doj s special master candidates to review the classified documents seized from mar-a-lago. what they re asking the judge to do. extreme weather in the west. heavy rain triggering mudslides. more than 50 people rescued as dozens of wildfires rage in the region. caught on camera, jeff bezos s unmanned blue origin rocket bursting into flames after lift-off. and the tributes for the queen. and what officials are now asking mourners to stop leaving behind. announcer: this is nbc nightly news with lester holt. good evening. the coffin of queen elizabeth ii lies at rest tonight in edinburgh, scotland where thousands have lined up to pay their respects. tonight the queen s daughter and three sons led by charles holding a vigil for their mother at st. giles cathedral. it was a day
that was the scene in kansas after resounding victory for abortion rights at the polls. kansans voted overwhelmingly to protect the right to an abortion in the constitution. not only was the result surprising in a state s conservative as kansas but, the margin wasn t even close. kansas voters rejected the anti-abortion measure by nearly 20 points and what s 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 low turnout august primary instead of during the general election in november, because yesterday s primary focused mostly republican candidates running against each other and would presumably attract mostly republican voters. they made the language of the ballot measures so dense and confusing that the normal person would be hard-pressed to decipher at first glance what s a yes or a no vote even meant. republican groups even blasted out a barra
for starters, they scheduled the vote during a typically low turnout august primary instead of during the general election in november, because yesterday s primary focused mostly republican candidates running against each other and would presumably attract mostly republican voters. they made the language of the ballot measures so dense and confusing that the normal person would be hard-pressed to decipher at first glance what s a yes or a no vote even meant. republican groups even blasted out a barrage of misleading text messages to kansas voters the day before the vote that made it sound like voting yes would protect a woman s right to choose when in fact the opposite is true. but despite all those obstacles, voter turnout was massive, far from the usual trickle of voters for an august primary in a midterm here. turnout approached nearly presidential levels. and the votes to defeat the antiabortion measure didn t just come from the urban and suburban counties where most of
you are a liberal who supports abortion rights is not going to offend you to hear the term abortion in an ad? but you think this kind of approach might work to get more conservative than republicans who are all about the idea that they want those personal freedoms, they want those autonomy s, they don t want to government is taking away the rights? i think just as miss sweet noted making sure that we are running campaigners as we work with candidates all over the country that are responsive to their consistent constituents their districts what is important to people on the ground in their communities at is the most effective way to win their trust and win their vote. so communicating about personal freedom, the thing that we all hold so dear just as americans our freedom to make decisions about our own bodies. ali i can t imagine anything more fundamental. so when we talk about abortion and access to reproductive health care. we are essentially talking
clinics for weeks and what they call the summer of mercy. an abortion provider george tillman was murdered by an antiabortion activist in his church in wichita in 2009. the church where he was murdered by the way was yesterday polling place. but the main reason that this resounding abortion rights victory in kansas is resonating nationwide is that abortion will be on the ballot and lots and lots and lots of races this november, because republicans keep nominating candidates with really extreme views on the subject. last night, republics in michigan told this woman, tutor dixon to be their nominee for governor in november. she supports a total ban on abortion with an exceptionally for the life of the mother, no exceptions for rape or incest. in fact, this was her on a podcast a couple of weeks ago. the question would be like 14 year old who let s say is a