An unexpected winner of the midterm election: Animals
Vox · Kenny Torrella ·
DC and Denver banned foie gras, states voted to fund nature conservation, and more.
In this week’s midterm elections, many Democrats won in a landslide. Also on the winning side of many ballot decisions: animals.
First, voters in Washington, DC, and Denver, Colorado, decisively supported a ban on the sale of foie gras — duck liver made by force-feeding the animals. In Colorado, voters opposed a constitutional amendment that would enshrine the right to hunt and fish, including with “traditional methods,” which could have allowed especially cruel (and currently illegal) practices, like poisoning and leg-hold traps.
And then there were the candidates. Two members of Congress who’ve led the charge on legislation to overturn farm animal welfare laws — Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS) and Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-IA) — each lost their races. In Colorado, Manny Rutinel — a state lawmaker who’s championed animal welfare issues — defeated incumbent Republican Rep. Gabe Evans in the state’s Eighth Congressional District. One progressive candidate for agriculture secretary in Iowa, Chris Jones — who ran on promises to clean up livestock and farming pollution — did lose, although narrowly.