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The Conservative Backlash Against Progressive Ballot Measures

In many states, ballot initiatives on expanding Medicaid, limiting gerrymandering, and raising the minimum wage swept to victory in November. Now lawmakers are doing their best to reverse them.
Utah lawmakers are pushing a Medicaid expansion repeal bill. Voters are angry.The Fairness Project

In November, more than half of Utah’s voters approved a bill to expand Medicaid statewide. Last week, Utah’s House of Representatives voted on a new bill, this time to effectively repeal that expansion. Yesterday, the Senate approved it, and Republican Governor Gary Herbert signed it, too.

It’s a similar story from Maine to Idaho. A raft of states passed progressive ballot measures seemingly at odds with their more conservative legislatures and governors; now those lawmakers are taking steps to hedge or even cancel popular initiatives to expand healthcare, end partisan redistricting, decriminalize cannabis, and increase the minimum wage. This conservative backlash highlights the growing role these initiatives play in cities and states where gridlock and gerrymandering can decide outcomes over the popular vote.