Welcome to G3 Weekly—a summary of this week’s top news stories on Christianity and the public square.
This week, Republicans made modest gains in the midterm elections that fell short of a highly anticipated red wave. Multiple states enshrined abortion protections as two conservative states failed to greenlight protections for preborn babies. Meanwhile, a teen male identifying as a female became the first self-identified transgender to win a Miss America beauty pageant.
Republicans Witness Underwhelming Midterm Election Results
“He changes times and seasons; He removes kings and sets up kings” (Daniel 2:21).
Republicans won a handful of important midterm election races, yet failed in many high-profile contests as a red wave only washed through some parts of the nation.
Mehmet Oz of Pennsylvania, Don Bolduc of New Hampshire, and Joe O’Dea of Colorado were among the Republicans who lost Senate bids against their Democratic rivals. JD Vance, however, defeated Tim Ryan in Ohio to prevent a Democratic pickup. While results in Arizona and Nevada continue to be tabulated, the Georgia Senate election will advance to a runoff between Republican Herschel Walker and incumbent Democrat Raphael Warnock next month. No major news outlet has called the Senate for either major party.
Ron DeSantis of Florida defeated Democratic nominee Charlie Crist by roughly twenty points, while Greg Abbott of Texas and Brian Kemp of Georgia also defeated their Democratic opponents by robust margins. DeSantis’s coattails led to major gains for his party in the House of Representatives, which is now expected to flip narrowly toward the Republicans, according to a projection from NBC News.
The modest Republican victories, though less than the red wave that some commentators had anticipated, could slow the agenda of President Joe Biden for the next two years. As former President Donald Trump prepares to announce a third bid for the White House, some Republicans have begun to prefer DeSantis as the new figurehead of the party.
Preborn Babies Suffer the Greatest Midterm Losses
“God is a righteous judge, and a God who feels indignation every day” (Psalm 7:11).
Americans rejected ballot measures granting basic protections to preborn children while endorsing other measures to end all regulations upon abortion.
The Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade earlier this year was among the more pressing issues among voters casting ballots in the midterm elections. Residents of California enshrined a constitutional amendment rendering abortion a guaranteed right by 65% to 35%, according to data from The New York Times. A similar measure in Michigan passed 57% to 43%, while citizens of Vermont greenlit an abortion rights proposal by a margin of 77% to 23%.
In Kentucky, voters had the opportunity to approve a constitutional amendment clarifying that the commonwealth does not protect the right to an abortion or maintain any requirement to fund abortion, yet the measure failed 52% to 48%. Residents of Montana rejected a measure guaranteeing medical aid to any baby born in an abortion clinic by a margin of 53% to 47%.
Male Identifying as Female Wins Pageant Sponsored By Miss America
“The way of a fool is right in his own eyes” (Proverbs 12:15).
A male identifying as a female emerged victorious in a New Hampshire beauty pageant sponsored by Miss America.
Brian Nguyen, who identified himself as a college freshman in a social media post, defeated twelve teenage girls to clinch the title of Miss Greater Derry 2023. Nguyen won the title after a federal appellate court ruled that Miss America could not be forced to include transgender-identifying men as competitors.
“No words can describe the feeling of having the opportunity to serve my community and represent my community for the very first time at Miss New Hampshire,” he commented. “I am so honored to be crowned your new Miss Greater Derry 2023, and I am thrilled to show you all what I have up my sleeves. This will be an amazing year.”
