2023 confirmed much of what we already know about American politics and policy: When in doubt, double down on the mistakes of the past and look in any direction except the one pointing toward new, healthier futures.
“The ‘Dobbs’ Strategy Heads South”
Head South? There were zero surprises in the 2023 Southern governors’ races, only longtime political trends confirmed. Louisiana was never going to elect a little-known Black man with pro-choice proclivities. Kentucky saw no reason to turn out the popular son of another popular governor even if he had pro-choice proclivities. And Mississippi’s decision to send a white man drenched in political scandals back to the governor’s mansion? Nina Simone was right: “Everybody knows about Mississippi goddam.”
“Salvaging Voting Rights Long After ‘Shelby’”
Busted umbrellas: Perhaps the only people surprised by the lightning speed of the new voter suppression tactics put in place by states once subject to federal reviews of their voting proposals were the five Supreme Court justices who made them possible a decade ago in Shelby County v. Holder. Ruth Bader Ginsburg was right: “Throwing out preclearance when it has worked and is continuing to work to stop discriminatory changes is like throwing away your umbrella in a rainstorm because you are not getting wet.”
“Southwest Virginia Residents Question Nuclear Shift”
Nuclear fusion: As Southwest Virginia residents chart new directions out of their coal mining past, state officials believe that one of the best pathways for economic revitalization is setting up the region as—wait for it—a hub for small modular nuclear reactors.
“Q&A: Charleston’s Coming Storm”
Swamp monsters: Climate change is coming for Charleston. In one of my most fascinating conversations of the year, Harvard Law professor Susan Crawford, author of Charleston: Race, Water, and the Coming Storm, unpacked the complex history and the resolute denialism about the power of tropical storms to upend lives and reshape landscapes in one of the most threatened cities in the country.
“Brothers From Other Mothers”
Forget that: Virginia featured in two of the most amazing political meltdowns of the Election 2023 season. Voters closed off Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s long-shot route to the presidency (for now) by putting Democrats in control of both houses of the legislature, while the second decisive defeat of a casino referendum backed by Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney sucked the air out of his gubernatorial ambitions.
