Source, the numbers are coming in and votes are being counted as an Ohio Special Election becomes a litmus test more than a year after roes reversal. All shook up again. As a fail tur to relaunch prompts another reshuffle of the Desantis Campaign. Will this latest shakeup make a difference . After reading trumps new election interference indictment, a former official of his says that his Blood Ran Cold. The army vets take on the possibility of trump using the military to stay in power. Im Kaitlan Collins and this is the source. We start with Breaking News for you this evening because cnn can now project that ohio voters have rejected issue 1, this was a Ballot Measure championed by the states Republicanled Congress that would have made it harder to change ohios constitution to add an amendment. This is an effort by republicans to basically change the rules before there is going to be a key vote on Abortion Rights come november. After seeing what happened in referendums in six other states either protecting Abortion Rights after Roe Versus Wade was overturned or restricting them. If issue 1 passed there would have needed to be a 60 supermajority to change the states constitution instead of just a simple majority. But now that is not happening after the voters of ohio have spoken. Cnn chief National Affairs correspondent jeff zeleny is in ohio tonight. Jeff, i know youve been tracking it all day as people have been going to the polls and werent sure what it would look like. What happened here . Reporter we are at the vote no party and you can see theyve been predicting victory slightly before our projection largely because of the strength of the early vote, more than 700,000 ohioans had voted going into election day and that strength continued throughout election day, so even as the numbers continue to come in from across the state we can now project that the vote no wins. You can hear the applause behind me here. What this really is, kaitlin, is the beginning of the process. This is the beginning of a Major Campaign over Abortion Rights, and one of americas classic battleground states, ohio, of course, has been trending red in recent president ial elections, but, abortion will be on the ballot in november and the threshold to enshrine Abortion Rights in the cobbs will be 50 . Thats what was at issue here. This was a twostep election, if you will. Republican leaders were trying to make it more difficult to raise the bar for what it would take to pass the November Ballot measure and wanted to make a 60 threshold. Well, that amendment was defeated today. That issue was defeated today so the beginning of this next abortion right, question and Battle Starts Tonight in ohio, and there is a Broad Coalition of supporters and you can hear behind me here from labor to physicians to just rank and file people did not like the process that this went through, so vote no wins tonight in ohio, but the campaign for Abortion Rights which clearly will be a very Large Campaign with outside money pouring in, that begins in the morning for the November Ballot question, kaitlin. I guess the sense of what weve been hearing here, is this about voters being upset that this was a society that theyve decided to have in august, even though that republican supermajority had just, you know, just voted to eliminate august special elections or do you think its a sense from what youve heard on the ground about an energy there behind what voters believe on Abortion Rights . Reporter look, it was definitely a mix. Abortion rights was a driver of this campaign. There is no doubt, but when you talk to many republicans, we encountered as weve been covering this the last month weve enkong tered many republicans opposed to abortion right, but they do not believe that the Summertime Special Election was the way to change the State Constitution. Two former republican governors, bob taft and john kasich have been campaigning across the state saying that the State Constitution should not be changed in this way, the threshold should not be raised so there definitely was a sense, some describe it as a power grab and talked to Secretary Of State frank larose today. He dismissed that and said clearly this was not an attempt to push something through. He may have been right about that because the reality is the vote no proponents came out in large, large numbers to support this but it was about boris rights and minimum wage. There will be a question about raising the minimum wage on the ballot perhaps next year and this was also part of that. But there is no doubt that ohio stands in the list of states like kansas, kentucky, michigan, in sending a loud message on Abortion Rights but this is one step of the process, the Real Question happens in november when abortion is on the ballot here in ohio. Yeah, of course, the questions for the implications of that. Jeff, thank you. Well check back in and well speak to democratic ohio congressman Shantel Brown in a moment but want to start with mike, the president of the ohio right to life group, mike obviously you were hoping that this was going to pass tonight. Why did this fail . Well, kaitlin, thanks for having me on. Theres still over 7,000 precincts that still need to have results turned in. Were not ready to call it on our side just yet. We think the votes are out there and good at sameday voting in the Republican Party and Still Holding out. We dont believe it should have been called this early. Here we are today and, you know, the no side is winning, of course, but at the end of the day we still want to count all our votes. You still think there is a chance . I do. 7,000 precincts, not in the nation but in the state of ohio and let the process play out and see where were at. At the end of the day weve been laser focused on november since january, this was step one in the process and well be ready to go come november. Cnn knows obviously really accurate with these projections. We dont make these early. We make them when we have a good assessment of what the vote looks like on the ground. I meaning but you say youre still waiting to see the final call. When this final call comes through, if it has failed, why do you think it failed . Look, this was a battle worth having. We needed to have a decision with the state of ohio, all 88 counties. Whether they be liberal or conservative Special Interest or do we want our constitution to be for sale . Look in the state of illinois they have a 60 threshold to change their constitution and said if its good enough for the blue state of illinois, shouldnt it be for the red state of ohio. The voters always get it right. Is that what its about. Special interests . Even ohios Secretary Of State, Secretary Of State frank larose said, this is 100 about keeping a radical proabortion amendment out of our constitution. Did that hurt your efforts here to get this to pass . No, look, the strength of our side, our yes side was the diversity of our coalition. For myself and my wife, 100 about abortion and not enshrining late term abortion. The ohio chamber of commerce. We were all together on this issue tonight and vote yes on issue 1. But the Secretary Of State made it about abortion. Do you think thats why it failed . No, not at all. The voters are smart. We knew this was coming and when theyre done, when the Special Interests are done with us theyll come for the Second Amendment and minimum wage and so many other issues next. So we had a chance tonight and still see what the results of this election, whether we protect our constitution or not but its bigger than abortion. Its about our way of life. Were a midwestern state with midwestern values and have a chance to protect our constitution and be like other states like illinois. What do you say to people critical of the timing of this. Even a former republican governor of the state, bob taft, said that a question this big should go to voters in november. Not in a Summer Special Election which the republican supermajority there had just voted to eliminate. Did they mess this up in the camp of people like you trying to skid this vote in august and not doing so in november . Yeah, no, look, at the end of the night weve had a great Voter Turnout and all 88 counties early voting, same day voting has been tremendous. The voters knew there was an election. Were approaching gubernatorial turnouts in a lot of counties so voters are smart and knew there was one issue on the ballot. No City Council Races so the voters are smart and knew there was an election today and responded. Well see in 45 minutes to an hour what the final results may or may not be. The fact it was in august didnt weigh one way or the other. To remind our viewers cnn called this and said this vote has failed. I know you said youre still waiting to hear it. What do you think this says about whats going to happen come november when that amendment about protecting Abortion Rights is on the ballot . Do you think that this meanings it could pass . No, you know, as jeff just said in the earlier report there are a lot of republicans that are prolife that may have voted no that will be with us shoulder to shoulder come november. We have marijuana and abortion on the ballot coming up and i believe our Faithbased Community and all 8 co8 countie will reject both. You dont think its a message they have misjudged how abortion plays in politics . You know, i dont think so and june of 2022, the Dobbs Decision came out and 90 days later Governor Mike Dewine was reelected with 64 of the vote and prolife republicans won entirely down the ballot in ohio. 90 days after the Dobbs Decision so if there was going to be some tsunami of prochoice voters it would have happened in 2022 and never occurred. We did see that when it drove, of course, what many expected was going to be a republican red wave in the midterms and that didnt happen. Mike, well see what happens come november with that measure in your state. President of ohio right to life. Thank you for your time. Thank you so much. For more i want to bring in Ohio Democratic congressman Shantel Brown. What do you make, lets start with the idea this has failed, this issue has failed and that obviously abortion advocates wanted this those who favor having choices having abortion be able people to make those decisions wanted this to fail. Whats your response to that tonight. First and foremost thank you for having me and thank the voters and volunteers who showed up and showed out in ohio for this, what was a rushed in my opinion an illegal election. I think what it shows is that the power remains in hands of the people, issues are still important and that messaging matters. What do you make of what mike just said. He was saying he doesnt think the timing here had an effect, the fact that it was a special election. Happening this august. This was the only issue that voters were voting on and casting their ballots about tonight. Do you think that is why this failed . I think it failed or it is going to fail because people are paying attention. Despite their suppressive efforts to try to hold an election in what i would describe as a sneak attack people were paying attention. Im so grateful for the number of voters that showed up and showed out to make their voices heard. This was about protecting a 100year Precedent Set in ohio. A simple Majority Rule. Their efforts to try to raise the threshold to 60 for future elections as well as changing the requirements to get a citizenled initiative on the ballot were really sinister and sadistic. When you think about the fact that currently right now we require 44 counties of the 88 to get signatures to get something on the ballot and they wanted to change it to 88. That means one single county could have held up an entire constitutional amendment for the entire state and so that is not representative of what the people in ohio wanted. This was about freedom and i think the people of ohio demonstrated that they wanted to protect their right to make their own Health Care Decisions and thats what this barometer and litmus test demonstrates in the state and i believe history has proven ohio is the pathway to victory when it comes to American Politics and so we look at this as a litmus test and we are thankful that when the votes are all counted that this issue will have failed and we will not only have saved democracy in ohio but potentialally across the country. Do you think this means that that vote in november on protecting Abortion Rights is going to succeed . I am optimistic. Listen, we have to take each election one at a time but what we know is currently polling indicates that 58 of ohioans would want to enshrine and protect the right to make your own Health Care Decisions and despite the extreme maga republican sneak attack to try to make that no longer the case, the people again showed up and were paying attention and they made their voices heard despite the efforts to try to silence the voice of the voters. I want to ask about a poll that cnn came out with today on abortion. It shows 64 , a majority of u. S. Adults say they disapprove of last the ruling essentially believe that essentially were arguing they dont believe enough members of your party or of those who favor Abortion Rights have done enough to protect it whether at a state level or federal level. I mean, what do you make of that, and how can you change those voters minds . Well, i think we saw we got a taste of that today. Listen, we did agree the majority of voters and passed legislation in the house that was stalled at the senate but i want to say this. When the Dobbs Decision was made, ohio was one of the states that had a tenyearold rape victim who had to go to indiana to Access Health care and access an abortion. When we think about issues around our state, this election was critical to helping people make that decision, and i think its also important to point out that this was a nonpartisan, if you will, result. Democrats and republicans alike believe in protecting the one person, one vote simple Majority Rule so despite what polls across the nation may say as it relates to republican versus democrats, when it came to this issue of issue 1, we were able to bring both democrats and republicans together and that demonstrates what happens when the people come together, the votes are successful and the country succeeds. Now, we should note that abortion law you noted there is on hold. Its being reviewed by your state supreme court. Congresswoman shontel brown, thank you for joining us. Thank you for having me. Well have more on what it means on a National Level when we return. Not just what is is happening in ohio but the ramifications of nationwide. Plus, there has been a major leadership shakeup for the Desantis Campaign as the president ial hopeful is struggling to catch up to the trump train. We never just see the numbers, we see the people. My dad Started Trek In A Red Barn in waterloo, wisconsin. And now it spans the globe. You wanna take what was given to you and you wanna bld it. And you wanna pass it along. If i can do that, i would have done well. Thats why were here. To help make it happen. How can you sleep on such a firm setting . Gab, mine is almost the same as yours. Almost is just another word for not as good as mine. Save 50 on the sleep Number Limited Edition smart bed. Plus, 36 month financing on select smart beds. Shop now only at sleep number. 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