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Given the chance to support abortion rights, even in a reliably Republican state in the middle of the country, voters will support abortion rights. That's the unexpected and consequential lesson from the Kansas primary on Tuesday. (Wolf, 8/3)

A decisive vote to defend abortion rights in deeply conservative Kansas reverberated across the midterm campaign landscape on Wednesday, galvanizing Democrats and underscoring for Republicans the risks of overreaching on one of the most emotionally charged matters in American politics. (Glueck and Goldmacher, 8/3)

The Kansas vote suggests that threats to abortion rights may energize Democrats in a way few political leaders can. And it comes at a moment when the party is gaining momentum on other fronts, including a legislative package to reduce prescription drug prices, combat climate change and raise taxes on corporations. The challenge for Democrats will be to maintain the energy for several more months and defy trends that typically trip up the party in power. (Peoples, 8/4)

DeAnn Hupe Seib is a fiscally conservative, churchgoing Republican from rural Kansas. When faced with a ballot question about whether abortion rights ought to be removed from her state’s constitution, she voted no. So did her home, Jefferson County, which favored Donald J. Trump by a 32-point margin in 2020.“I was old enough that I remember stories of women who could not get abortions or had to defy their church in order to get in and get an abortion in order to save their lives,” said Ms. Hupe Seib, 63, a lawyer. “So it’s a very real issue to me, and I know it can be again.” (Smith, Fox and Dias, 8/3)

When abortion rights organizer Jae Gray sent canvassers out into the Kansas City suburbs for the state’s upcoming referendum, they armed them with talking points aimed at all voters — not just liberals. “We definitely used messaging strategies that would work regardless of party affiliation,” said Gray, a field organizer for Kansans for Constitutional Freedom. “We believe every Kansan has a right to make personal health-care decisions without government overreach — that’s obviously a conservative-friendly talking point. We were not just talking to Democrats.” (Gowen, 8/3)

Voters in red-state Kansas easily rejected an effort to strip abortion protections from the state's Constitution in the nation's first test of how Americans would respond to the overturning of Roe v. Wade. That's caught the attention of Ohioans who want to enshrine abortion access in the state Constitution, sidestepping the GOP-controlled Legislature and its restrictions on the procedure. (Balmert, 8/4)

On Wednesday, while the dust was settling from the Kansas vote, progressives were already urging members of like-minded Facebook groups to help collect signatures to put an abortion rights amendment before Missouri voters in 2023. “Some of these places you may think are so deeply red that no measure to protect abortion could ever succeed,” said Fairness Project Executive Director Kelly Hall. “But don’t write off these states. No matter where you live, there is hope on the horizon.” (Ollstein, 8/3)

In Kentucky, residents will be asked to weigh in on a state constitutional amendment that says, “Nothing in this Constitution shall be construed to secure or protect a right to abortion or require the funding of abortion.” In Michigan, residents will vote on a ballot measure that would amend the state constitution, protecting the right to make choices on reproductive issues such as contraception and abortion. Over in Montana, there’s also a ballot measure that would require that infants born following an abortion attempt to be provided medical care. (Vakil and Kruzel, 8/3)