The eyes of voters and the attention of the media in a presidential election year are understandably focused on the White House. Yet in state and local races across the country, thousands of campaign volunteers and special interest groups are fighting in the trenches to advance their policy agendas. 

In these crucial races, governors, attorneys general, secretaries of state, mayors, school board officials and state legislators will be elected and will set policies that often have the most immediate bearing on ordinary Americans where they live, work and worship. The voters in the states of Virginia and California can attest to how consequential state races are. 

In Virginia, voters in 2021 elected a conservative Republican governor, Glenn Youngkin, to replace a liberal Democrat. One of Youngkin’s campaign slogans was “Parents Matter,” which resonated in a state embroiled in controversy over how public schools were handling LGBTQ issues and the teaching of critical race theory. In the same election, Jason Miyares, a Republican who shares Youngkin’s views on those issues, was elected attorney general. 

Together, Youngkin and Miyares have required school boards and educators to respect parental rights, and Youngkin rewrote state guidelines for schools navigating LGBTQ issues, especially in regard to gender questions. The guidelines now say students’ participation in sex-segregated sports and the use of school locker rooms and restrooms should be based on a student’s biological sex. Also, school officials must call minor students by their given names in their official records, not preferred pronouns—unless a parent approves.

In California, voters have a starkly different experience. Second-term Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom has doubled down on pushing left-wing social trends in public schools. By his side has been the state attorney general, Rob Bonta, who has sued school districts that have tried to ensure parents have the right to object to radical policies or be informed if their student wishes to identify as the opposite sex. 

Matt Carpenter, director of FRC Action, says when good people are elected at the state level, they can effect righteous change where it matters most.

 “The beauty of our federalized system of government is that a great deal of authority rests on government bodies closest to the citizens,” he said. “When the federal government doesn’t have the means or the willingness to step in, it’s often state attorneys general who are able to step in and take the federal government to court.”

On Election Day, 11 states will choose governors, 10 will choose attorneys general, and 40 will have ballot measures giving voters choices on policies, laws and state constitutional amendments. In 10 of those states with statewide ballot questions, Decision has identified measures where voters will decide policy on marriage, the sanctity of human life and drug legalization.

Governor Races

Gubernatorial races will be held in North Dakota, Indiana, Missouri, New Hampshire, Vermont, Delaware, North Carolina, West Virginia, Utah, Washington and Montana. Only three of those states have Democrats now at the helm—North Carolina, Delaware and Washington.

Two states electing a new governor in 2024—New Hampshire and North Carolina—are rated as tightly contested races by at least two political rating organizations, according to Ballotpedia.com. Neither of the governors in those states, New Hampshire Republican Chris Sununu or North Carolina Democrat Roy Cooper, can run for re-election in 2024.

In North Carolina, Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, a fiscal and family-values conservative, is facing liberal Democrat Attorney General Josh Stein in a race Politico is calling the most important gubernatorial contest of 2024, in a state where the GOP hopes to gain a “trifecta” with a governor and majorities in both chambers of the legislature. Meanwhile, the Democratic Governors Association plans to spend $5 million in North Carolina and New Hampshire in an effort to influence state judicial appointments by electing Democratic governors. 

In New Hampshire, voters at press time were awaiting results of a Sept. 10 primary featuring six Republicans, three Democrats, one Constitutional party member and one Libertarian. Among the GOP candidates is former U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte, whose past endorsements included the pro-life Susan B. Anthony Fund and National Right to Life.

Attorneys General Races 

The top law enforcement official in each state, the attorney general carries significant legal and policy influence, and the position often is a political steppingstone. In the 10 states where attorneys general will be chosen on Nov. 5, four incumbents are up for reelection, with the remaining six electing a new AG.

Races drawing national attention include the battleground state of Pennsylvania, where Republican Dave Sunday, a prosecutor in York County and a Navy veteran, faces Democrat Eugene DePasquale, former state auditor general. The seat is currently held by a term-limited Democrat. 

Another race in a battleground state is in North Carolina, where two congressmen are seeking the office. Republican Rep. Dan Bishop faces Democratic Rep. Jeff Jackson in a race to succeed Democrat Josh Stein, who is running for governor.

State Ballot Measures

In 14 states, voters will tackle issues that will have direct bearing on public morality, Biblical values and the general welfare of society.

Abortion / Euthanasia

After the overturning of Roe v. Wade, abortion activists have been strategizing to promote abortion on demand as broadly and liberally as possible. In 10 states—Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New York, Nevada and South Dakota—voters will decide whether or not to write abortion rights into their state constitutions. In nine of those states, ballot measures would essentially allow abortion up until birth. In Nebraska, two abortion-related ballot questions will be before voters: one measure—Initiative 434—would protect unborn babies from second- and third-trimester abortions except for rape, incest or “medical emergency.” The other—Initiative 439—would seek to establish abortion as a “fundamental right” through 22 weeks, with several exceptions that would allow late-term abortions.

Among the most radical of abortion measures is the one before voters in Maryland, which already allows abortion up through fetal viability. In testimony before the state legislature, pro-life advocate Dr. Frank Arlinghaus said the measure is “unusual and extreme.”

“The consequences,” Arlinghaus said, “would include elective abortion throughout all nine months, paid for by the state, and removing the legislature’s ability to enact reasonable regulation without repealing or amending the Constitution again.”

In Colorado, a supermajority of 55% of voters is needed if a proposal to write abortion rights into the state constitution is passed. The measure would allow public funding of abortion, repealing a constitutional provision against it. Colorado is already one of 10 states that allows abortion up to birth. 

Other states with abortion provisions on the ballot would allow legislative regulation after fetal viability. 

In New York, an equal protection amendment would provide legal cover for everything from LGBTQ rights to abortion. In contrast, voters in West Virginia will consider a pro-life constitutional amendment that would prohibit “the practice of medically assisted suicide, euthanasia, or mercy killing of a person.”

Gay Marriage

Another hot-button issue is marriage, with rumblings from liberal groups that a conservative Supreme Court might someday overturn the 2015 ruling that legalized gay marriage nationwide. Consequently, LGBTQ activists have worked to enact contingency state laws that would keep it legal in the states if the Obergefell v. Hodges decision were overturned. 

On Election Day, voters in three states—California, Colorado and Hawaii—will decide whether or not to write homosexual marriage guarantees into their constitutions.

In California, voters will decide whether or not “the right to marry is a fundamental right” and whether to repeal an invalidated law, Proposition 8, which defined marriage as the union of one man and one woman. In 2008, the state’s voters passed Prop 8 by a 52%-47% margin, with support from many evangelical churches.

In Colorado and Hawaii, voters will also be asked to repeal constitutional bans on gay marriage. In Hawaii, the measure would prevent the legislature from being able to “reserve marriage to opposite sex couples.”

DRUG LEGALIZATION

In Florida and South Dakota—states with conservative Republican governors—voters will consider whether or not to legalize the recreational use of marijuana despite mounting evidence that frequent cannabis use increases mental and physical health risks. ©2024 BGEA