Here’s the summary of the changes in Congress and in the Governor offices, Attorney General offices, and state legislatures.
US House
Currently there are 185 pro-life members and 32 nominal pro-life members – 217 total. Nancy Pelosi has so far picked up 18 seats (254) and 8 are still being contested. Currently, Planned Parenthood is claiming 17 of the 18 are new pro-Planned Parenthood representatives.
US Senate
Currently there are 44 pro-life Senators and 3 nominal pro-life Senators. This year there were 33 normal races from Senate Class II and two special races from Senate Class I. There were five pro-life retirements. So far there have been five pro-life losses –
- Colorado – Mark Udall defeated Bob Schaffer (open seat)
- New Hampshire – Jeanne Shaheen defeated John Sununu (incumbent)
- New Mexico – Tom Udall defeated Steve Pearce (open seat)
- North Carolina – Kay Hagan defeated Elizabeth Dole (incumbent)
- Virginia – Mark Warner defeated Jim Gilmore (open seat)
There are three pro-life races still open –
- Alaska – Ted Stevens (incumbent) and Mark Begich
- Georgia – Saxby Chambliss (incumbent) and Martin
- Minnesota – Norm Coleman (incumbent) and Al Franken
Currently 39 pro-life seats – possible pick up of 3 more. Need 41 for a filibuster. Being able to maintain a filibuster is very important if we want to stop the Freedom of Choice Act in the Senate.
Governor
There were only 11 races this year. The big year for governor races is in 2010 with 36 seats up for grabs. We only saw one seat change hands this year and that was in Missouri – pro-life governor Matt Blunt retired and the pro-abortion Attorney General Jay Nixon beat Congressman Kenny Hulshof by 18 points.
Also of interest, North Carolina – this was a big priority for Planned Parenthood and Emily’s List and they were successful in helping Bev Perdue win there, a pro-abortion woman Governor in a traditionally red state.
Otherwise, of interest was the Washington State rematch between pro-abortion Governor Christine Gregoire and pro-life candidate Dino Rossi. Last time Gregoire won by 133 votes. This time she’s winning by 8 points.
Attorney General
There were 9 races this year. Again most Attorney General races are in 2010. Three races are of interest.
Greg Zoeller looks like he will win the Indiana Attorney General open seat. Though not all the vote count is in, he’s winning by about a 100,000 votes.
In Missouri, the seat vacated by pro-abortion Attorney General Jay Nixon will be replaced by Chris Koster, a former pro-life Republican state legislator who switched to being a pro-choice Democrat.
In West Virginia, long-time AG Darrell McGraw barely retains his seat against pro-life attorney Dan Greear.
State Legislatures
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, here are the state legislative power changes.
Switches to Democratic control from Republican:
- Delaware House
- New York Senate
- Nevada Senate
- Ohio House
- Wisconsin Assembly
Switches to Republican control from Democratic:
- Montana Senate
- Tennessee House
Switches to Republican control from tied:
- Oklahoma Senate
- Tennessee Senate
Switches to tied:
- Alaska Senate (from Republican)
- Montana House (from Democratic)
Total:
- Democratic controlled legislative bodies: 57 (+2)
- Republican controlled legislative bodies: 39 (-2)
- Tied legislative bodies: 2 (Alaska Senate and Montana House)
- Nonpartisan legislative body: 1 (Nebraska’s Unicameral Legislature)
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I wish that the governors races had turned out better and think we need to mobilize forcefully for 2010. I actually live in Missouri and was very impressed with Gov. Blunt’s term. He was the strongest advocate on pro-life issues that we’ve had in decades and provided extra funding for adoption programs.
Scientifically as well as biblically a human life begins long before the mother can exercise her governmentally granted and funded option to destroy the little one growing in her womb.
On January 22, 1973, the foremost function of the federal government to promote, protect,and preserve the lives of all of its citizenry, was irreconcilably altered. Please sign the petition for redress of grievances relating to the right to life available at savethesouls.org.
I assure you to those who truly matter, abortion is the defining issue of our time. Please do whatever you can to stop this holocaust.
For the pro-choice people and the rest of us also, there are really only two choices you can make; choose to follow the one who came to steal, kill, and destroy, or choose to follow the one who came so that you might enjoy abundant life. Doing nothing in the matter of abortion constitutes a choice.
It is long past time for those who call themselves human to stand up for these precious ,most innocent, most vunerable members of our society; those who cannot stand or speak up for themselves.