These Heroes Are Striking Back Against Regressive Red State Republicans
Things may look bleak in GOP-controlled states like Florida, Texas and Tennessee, but red state progressives are finding ways to push back against regressive Republican agendas.
The onslaught of deplorable laws around the country, drafted by right-wing legislators and signed by MAGA governors, can feel overwhelming.
But have you heard about those heroes striking back against these dangerous laws and policies?
Not enough, I bet.
So many activists, progressive groups, and legislators of all persuasions are working overtime and finding innovative ways to slow down or downright reverse the damage of right-wing legislation. They don’t always win, but they are winners in our book.
Today in The Big Picture, we’re exploring some of those heroic efforts.
– George Takei
As red states across the country go after the most vulnerable among us, infringe on their citizens’ rights and veer ever further toward authoritarianism, it’s heartening to see Democrats fight back.
Nineteen states currently have Democratic majorities in their state legislatures AND a Democratic Governor. These states are doing what they can to advance progressive legislation and push back against regressive legacies and policies.
Illinois’ Democratic Governor just signed a law that would punish schools and libraries that ban books.
Michigan Democrats repealed a 1931 abortion ban that lacked any exceptions for rape, incest or the life of the mother, passed universal background checks and a safe gun storage law.
Washington and Minnesota Dems passed laws making those states sanctuaries for anyone traveling there seeking abortion or gender-affirming care.
These are just a few of the examples of Democrats delivering for their constituents in blue state after blue state.
But what about in those red states where the most egregious policies are becoming law?
Without political power, the forces of fairness and democracy are forced to get creative. Let’s take a look at just some of the red state heroes thinking outside the box to fight back against the dangerous and regressive policies advanced by Republican majorities—or, all too often, supermajorities.
UTAH
In early 2022, Utah’s Republican legislature and governor passed into law HB 374, which allows parents to complain and ultimately ban “sensitive content” from school libraries. Within the first 6 months of its implementation, 280 complaints had been filed.
Unsurprisingly, as The Salt Lake Tribune noted:
Most of those considered offensive focus on race and the LGBTQ community.
So, one enterprising Utah parent decided to stage a bit of a protest, use the law against conservatives and make them regret ever passing it. This anonymous parent filed a complaint against the Bible, citing “incest, onanism, bestiality, prostitution, genital mutilation, fellatio, dildos, rape, and even infanticide,” demanding it be removed from schools.
And the parent won.
The complaint, which was isolated to the Davis School District, was absolutely on point.
It stated:
“Get this PORN out of our schools! If the books that have been banned so far are any indication for way lesser offenses, this should be a slam dunk.”
Ultimately, the Davis School District did decide to remove the Bible from elementary and middle school libraries due to “vulgarity or violence.”
Even though it only impacts a few schools in the district and may in fact be reversed on appeal, it was a wonderful way to turn conservatives’ own absurd book ban policies against them. Of course, by any objective measure, the Bible contains content that would run afoul of any decency statute.
But somehow I suspect that particular book wasn’t what they had in mind when they conceived of the policy…
ARKANSAS
Meanwhile, in Arkansas, Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed Act 372 into law, which similarly puts a procedure in place to allow a single person to challenge a book’s availability in libraries or stores based simply on that person’s judgment as to whether it is appropriate for minors.
While the law purports to protect minors from certain content, the law, which is set to go into effect in August, actually would remove content from all customers while the challenged book is under review.
Now a unique coalition of librarians and booksellers is fighting back, challenging provisions in the law that would prevent even adult customers from having access to the books, allowing just one person’s judgment to impact access to that book by all customers.
The court filing challenges the law on Constitutional grounds.
“Under the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, adults have the right to view, browse through and purchase material protected by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, including material with sexual content that is not obscene. Booksellers have the constitutional right freely to display and disseminate such materials to adults. Adult bookstore customers and library patrons have the right to view such materials.”
If this suit succeeds in preventing Act 372 from going into effect, it could serve as a model for others fighting back against conservative book bans in red states around the country.
FLORIDA
In Ron DeSantis’ Florida, the anti-immigrant governor recently signed SB 1718, clearly designed to demonstrate to Republican primary voters around the country that no one is more anti-migrant than he is.
But it seems to be backfiring.
The radical law, which is set to go into effect on July 1, would limit social services for undocumented immigrants in Florida, would invest $12 million in DeSantis’ bussing program that transports migrants out of the state, would invalidate driver's licenses issued to undocumented people by other states and most crucially would impose strict penalties on employers that violate new E-verify employment mandates.
The law requires businesses with more than 25 employees to either use the federal online database to confirm whether someone is eligible to work in the U.S. or face $1,000 per day fines. The law would also make it a felony for workers to use a false ID to get a job.
Businesses in Florida are crying foul and are fearful of an exodus of crucial workers from a state already suffering from a labor shortage. And immigration advocates are fighting back, recently holding a Day Without Immigrants day of action.
As CBS Miami reported:
Across Florida on Thursday, workers didn't show up at construction sites and tomato fields and scores of restaurants, shops and other small businesses never opened their doors to protest a new state law that imposes restrictions on undocumented immigrants.
Just days later, in a remarkable turnaround, video surfaced of two Republican lawmakers who voted for the bill begging migrants not to leave Florida.
State legislator Rick Roth, a farmer himself, can be heard telling the gathered crowd of migrants that SB 1718 was “100% meant to scare you” and his fellow farmers “are mad as hell” because “we are losing employees, they are already starting to move.”
State legislator Alina Garcia, herself a Cuban immigrant, agreed with Roth, stating the bill “really doesn’t have any teeth.”
Again, this is a bill Garcia voted for.
As the Orlando Sentinel put it:
You can either believe that Republican lawmakers voted for a bill that they knew had no teeth, wanting to demonize migrant workers in spirit while also keeping them on Florida job sites.
Or you can believe that you live in a state where lawmakers don’t even understand the legislation they pass.
Both options are pathetic.
This revolt by DeSantis allies makes clear the activism on behalf of Florida migrant workers is having an impact and the bill’s supporters are running scared.
Keep it up!
NEBRASKA AND SOUTH CAROLINA
In deep-red Nebraska, Republicans’ insistence on passing a ban on gender-affirming care for transgender youth inspired state lawmaker Machaela Cavanaugh to launch an unprecedented filibuster.
As she famously put it:
“I will burn this session to the ground…. I have nothing but time, and I am going to use all of it.”
Over the course of two months, Cavanaugh spoke for hundreds of hours, decrying both the anti-trans bill that inspired her filibuster as well as a proposed 6-week abortion ban. As she made clear, she sought to bring the legislature to a standstill for all bills, including those she supported.
She managed to block votes on most of the 812 bills that came before the body.
In the end, though, as Cavanaugh suspected it might, the bill passed after being amended to include a 12-week abortion ban—thanks in part to Cavanaugh’s efforts, Republican support for the 6 week ban wavered.
But Cavanaugh, as a member of the minority without the votes to block the legislation, wanted to send a distinct signal:
“If you want to inflict pain upon our children, I am going to inflict pain upon this body. People are like, ‘Is she threatening us?’ Let me be clear. Yes, I am. I am threatening you.”
Similarly, all of the female state senators in South Carolina deployed the filibuster to try to defeat abortion ban legislation that came out of the more conservative state House. Before that, their counterparts in the House introduced over 1,000 amendments to the proposed bill in an effort to try to scuttle Republican efforts.
You may recall their viral video set to Taylor Swift’s ‘Look What You Made Me Do’ from May.
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Three times, the South Carolina state senators were able to block egregious abortion bans. Sadly just as in Nebraska one finally passed—a 6-week ban with exceptions included in a compromise.
GOP Governor Henry McMaster signed the bill into law on May 25.
While the law went into effect immediately, it was promptly challenged in court by Planned Parenthood South Atlantic along with the Greenville Women’s Clinic.
MONTANA
In a first-of-its-kind lawsuit, sixteen Montana youths—ranging in age from 5 to 22—are suing state legislators, accusing them of passing environmental policies contrary to the state constitution, which explicitly guarantees the:
...state and each person shall maintain and improve a clean and healthful environment in Montana for present and future generations
Grace Gibson-Snyder is a 19-year-old plaintiff in the case, which went to trial this week.
As she put it:
“We’re asking the government and the courts to do their job and protect us, along with the rest of Montana’s citizens and our incredible home state; this case is one big opportunity for the state to become a leader in preserving a safe, beautiful and prosperous future for Montana.”
The judge in the case has narrowed the scope of the suit to consider the constitutionality of HB 971, which was passed by the state’s Republican supermajority and signed into law by GOP Governor Greg Gianforte in May.
That bill bars state agencies from considering greenhouse gas emissions and climate impacts when conducting reviews of large projects in the state. In the lead-up to passage of the bill, the comment period inspired 1,000 comments, 95% of which opposed the legislation.
But with two-thirds supermajorities, Montana Republican lawmakers—many of whom have ties to the fossil fuel industry—had no incentive to reflect the actual views of Montanans who overwhelmingly support efforts to curb manmade climate change.
Now, it’s up to 16 young people to fight for the state’s environmental future, as they embark on an unprecedented 2-week trial to send a message to lawmakers about how their damaging policies have harmed the day-to-day lives of Montanans.
The case was brought by Our Children’s Trust, which has been fighting anti-environmental legislation in the courts on behalf of youth since 2010.
BEHIND RED STATE LINES
All too often in the 22 states where Republicans hold a trifecta of power (i.e. the state house, senate and governor’s mansion), the majorities are so great that there is no incentive for them to work with the other side or even try to reflect the views of the constituents they claim to represent. But even in these states, where Democrats hold little voting power, rest assured the forces of democracy and fairness are striking back.
This is important not only to bring attention to the malfeasance of the GOP but also to give hope to other progressives in the state that all is not lost. Standing up for what’s right matters, even should the battle be lost…this time.
For this, we salute and respect these tireless advocates deep behind red state lines.
They are making a real difference and they are deserving of our attention and support.
I grew up in St. Louis, MO, left after college and came back to enjoy retirement. St. Louis is one of a couple of blue spaces within a very red state. People here have used petitions to get reasonable measures onto the ballet and where they received approval by residents- medical marijuana, Medicaid expansion and recreational marijuana. There is currently a push with petitions to get abortion rights into the state constitution. The MO state legislature tried to increase the percentage of signatures to get a petition on the ballet but ended this session without success. MO requires that the cost of a petition include a fiscal note and summary of the cost but Attorney General Bailey has tried to increase the "no cost" opinion of the state auditor to billions of dollars arguing that MO would lose Medicaid dollars and revenue from unborn children should be accounted for. This is a delay tactic to keep any petitions from appearing on 2024 ballots. A judge has already heard arguments in a case filed by the MO ACLU and the state auditor's office. Until this is resolved petitions cannot be sent to the Secretary of State and signatures cannot be gathered. It's a constant struggle.
Thank you for calling out these heroes fighting in the trenches. It gives hope in a time of seemingly hopelessness.