1999 Elections Wrap-Up
VIRGINIA ELECTIONS CONTINUE PRO-LIFE GAINS IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

The November 2 elections that included races for all 140 seats in the Virginia General Assembly resulted in key victories which will add strength to an increasingly pro-life legislature.

Remarkably, every pro-life incumbent running in both the House of Delegates and the state Senate won. In addition, three pro-life challengers toppled veteran Democratic legislators, with long track records of anti-life votes. Defeated were delegates Glenn Croshow, Gladys Keating, and Sen. Stanley Walker.

History was made when the Republican Party, for the first time ever, won a majority in the House of Delegates. Republicans now hold 52 seats to 47 for the Democrats, with one Independent who is part of the Republican caucus.

As a result, when the legislature convenes January 12, Delegate S. Vance Wilkins is expected to assume the position of Speaker of the House, the General Assembly's most powerful post. Wilkins has a 100% pro-life voting record during his 22 years in the General Assembly. Republicans also hung on to their slim majority in the Senate.

Pro-Life Involvement
The Virginia Society for Human Life Political Action Committee (PAC), through the work of many volunteers, was instrumental in the re-election of key pro-life incumbents and the election of challenger Nick Rerras.

Strongly pro-life Rerras (R) defeated Senate President Pro Tem Sen. Stanley Walker (D-Norfolk) in an upset win over the Senate's senior member. Walker held powerful positions on key committees, including the Education and Health Committee, which has often buried pro-life proposals.

In neighboring Virginia Beach, pro-life challenger Terri Suit (R) ousted Del. Glenn Croshaw (D) in a House of Delegates race. Croshaw, a 14-year incumbent, had a mixed voting record on right to life legislation, including votes in the most recent session opposing the Woman's Right to Know Bill. Newly elected Suit publicly pledged her support to help pass the bill that would require informed consent prior to abortion.

"Years of educating the public on right to life issues, coupled with hard work helping to elect pro-life candidates at state and national levels, continues to pay off," said Brenda Fastabend, who chairs the Virginia Society for Human Life PAC.

"Each year, as a few more pro-life candidates are elected, we grow stronger - - and now we are reaping the benefit of having supportive legislators move into leadership positions," she said. "As a result, commonsense laws to protect innocent human lives are becoming a reality."

Added Fastabend, "People in the pro-life movement just never give up."

Along with unseating pro-abortionists, there was the important task of protecting legislators who have played leading roles in helping to pass pro-life bills in recent years. Despite in some cases facing well-funded, tough challenges, all won new terms.

Fastabend told NRL News that often pro-life candidates used campaign literature to contrast their positions with their opponents' pro-abortion stance.

"It was great to see pro-life incumbents face down their opponents on the right to life issue and show they were proud of their commitments," she said. Sen. Steve Newman (R-Lynchburg), chief patron of the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act that passed in 1998, won re-election with 66%. Sen. Fred Quayle (R- Chesapeake), targeted by abortion proponents, won by a larger margin than predicted.

In addition, Delegate Bob McDonnell (R-Virginia Beach), chief patron of informed consent legislation and one of the General Assembly's most articulate pro-life advocates, won re- election in a nationally spotlighted race. Delegates Bob Marshall (R-Manassas) and Roger McClure (R-Centreville), both leading proponents of protective legislation, were thought to be in jeopardy but won. McClure prevailed by only 408 votes in a hard-fought race.

Virginia Society for Human Life PAC volunteers worked especially hard for McClure's re-election.

In a contest for the seat vacated by the retirement of Northern Virginia Democrat Sen. Joseph Gartlan (a founding member of Virginia Society for Human Life), pro-abortion Linda " Toddy" Puller (D) defeated pro-life Dan Rinzel (R), 52% to 48%. In the five open seats in the House of Delegates, pro-life strength appears not to have changed.

Governors
In other election news, governors were elected in three states Louisiana, Kentucky, and Mississippi.

Louisiana has a unique election system. All candidates run in an open primary; if no candidate receives more than 50% of the vote, the top two vote-getters, regardless of party, compete in a general election run-off.

However, pro-life Gov. Mike Foster (R) avoided a run-off, winning a second term with 62% of the vote. Pro-life Lt. Gov. Kathleen Blanco (D) was also re-elected October 25, receiving 81% of the vote.

Kentucky's pro-abortion governor and lt. governor, Democrats Paul Patton and Steve Henry, respectively, were re-elected to a second term with 61% of the vote.

In Mississippi, a winner has yet to be declared. Pro-life Gov. Kirk Fordice (R) was term-limited and could not seek re- election. The two major competitors for the office were pro-life former Congressman Mike Parker (R) and pro-life Lt. Gov. Ronnie Musgrove (D).

Mississippi law requires the winner to receive more than 50% of the vote. Returns following the election show Musgrove ahead of Parker by more than 6,000 votes. However, because of the presence of a third candidate, Musgrove received just under the required 50%. The final decision will likely be made by the state House of Representatives in early January.

Pro-life former state Senator Amy Tuck (D) was elected as Mississippi's new lt. governor with 53% of the vote.

Maine PBA Measure Fails
Faced with biased media-coverage and strange ballot wording coming out of the Secretary of State's office, voters in Maine failed to pass a referendum that would have banned partial-birth abortion in that state. While polls up until shortly before the election were showing the vote as too close to call, the pro- life measure ended up being defeated by roughly a 55%-45% margin.

Pro-life and pro-family organizations, working closely with churches, faced an uphill battle from the beginning. The groups filed the necessary papers with the Secretary of State to place on the ballot a measure to ban partial-birth abortions.

As directed by state law, a summary of the bill, written by the Secretary of State (a pro-abortion ex-state legislator), is what appears on the ballot, rather than the complete language. Instead of stating specifically that partial-birth abortions would be banned, the wording on the ballot stated that the measure would "ban a specific abortion procedure to be defined in law." Opponents of the measure then successfully campaigned that the wording was too vague to be trustworthy.

Biased media further complicated the battle. The line drawings showing a partial-birth abortion, common in most NRLC material on the subject, were not allowed in television or newspaper ads. However, media stories showing pictures of babies born with no brains were run in an attempt to show that, if the referendum passed, abortions on these babies would not be allowed.

One television ad that showed a mother and newborn baby was rejected by two stations. One station manager stated that his seven-year-old asked what the ad was about, which led to an uncomfortable discussion, so he was not going to air the ad on his station.

Although polls nationwide show strong support for a ban on partial-birth abortions, abortion supporters in Maine successfully convinced voters that the measure would ban all abortions, not just partial-birth abortions.