Editor’s Letter: The Roe decision will reshape the midterms, and midterm elections created it

Republicans have absolutely decimated Democratic senators in rural midwestern and southern states for the past decade. That paved the way for the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v Wade, writes Eric Garcia

Republican senators Rick Scott, Ron Johnson and Thom Tillis all won their first Senate races in midterm elections, which resonated throughout the next decade (Getty)

Politico’s leak of a draft ruling by the Supreme Court that would kill Roe v Wade reset 2022, which is fitting since midterm elections in the past decade paved the road to the end of accessible abortion in the United States. Many rounds of Democratic blame ignored midterm elections from 2010, 2014 and 2018, all of which led to Republicans confirming the Supreme Court justices who came to this decision.

Many political observers rightly characterise the 2010 midterm for Democrats using the same term Barack Obama used after the results: a shellacking. But that’s an understatement. In 2009, longtime Republican senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania switched parties as he faced a tough primary challenge. But Specter lost the Democratic primary to Joe Sestak, who lost to Pat Toomey.

That same year, progressive favorite senator Russ Feingold of Wisconsin lost his race to Ron Johnson while senator Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas lost to Republican John Boozman after a bruising Democratic primary by Bill Halter. All three Senators would win reelection in 2016 when Donald Trump won and voted to confirm all three of his judges.