What drove voters to the polls in Ohio wasn’t politics or partisanship — it was values. More and more people today are motivated not by party loyalty but by the issues they care about and the threats they see to their most basic rights.

Ohio saw that the right to control your own health choices and bodily autonomy is clear, conspicuous and easily understood.

That’s why Issue 1, which would have made it harder to enshrine abortion rights into the Ohio Constitution, was overwhelmingly defeated, just as other anti-abortion ballot initiatives were voted down in red and purple states such as Michigan, Kentucky and Kansas in 2022.

And that’s why today, the forces and factors that went into the shocking victory in Ohio for abortion rights are poised to play a decisive role in the 2024 elections.

Ohio voters from across the political spectrum recognized that abortion bans have nothing to do with women’s health and everything to do with the power that some politicians want to retain over women’s lives, their futures and their bodily autonomy.

No one wants to live in that kind of society — or see their daughters, granddaughters, nieces and loved ones have to grow up under those conditions.

Voters turned out in record numbers, with 57% voting against the measure, a victory margin of almost 430,000 votes out of more than 3 million cast. Even Ohioans who hadn’t voted in 2022 came out in the summer heat to stand up for their rights and values.

According to Democratic pollster Celinda Lake, “In the early vote alone, there were 30,000 voters who voted in (the) election that hadn’t voted in 2022, and they were largely women and African-American women.”

The test for 2024 is whether those voters will stay engaged in Ohio and across the country. I believe they will.

There’s tremendous energy at the grassroots level to work for the change we need to see in the priorities our lawmakers set — and the ones they ignore. In the year since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, 14 states have made abortion illegal, and many more are considering abortion restrictions and bans that make it difficult, if not impossible, to obtain abortion care.

The Ohio vote shows the power of grassroots action, coalition building and common-sense conversations about the issues that matter.

After the results came in from Ohio, abortion rights advocates in Arizona filed a ballot measure to protect those rights in the Arizona Constitution. A 15-week abortion ban was signed into law in 2022 by then-Gov. Doug Ducey, a Republican. At the same time, those pushing for a near-total ban on abortions appealed a court ruling preventing doctors from being prosecuted under a law that’s been on the books since Arizona was a territory.

“We’re just one bad court decision away from a total abortion ban that carries prison time for doctors,” said Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs, a Democrat who focused on abortion rights during her 2022 campaign.

The need to codify abortion rights into state law couldn’t be more precise — and the stakes in the 2024 election couldn’t be higher. Arizona is just one of a handful of battleground states that could determine the outcome of the presidential election — with a Senate race on the ballot that could determine party control.

And in Ohio, the abortion rights coalition that beat Issue 1 remains in place to make a difference in abortion-rights defender Sen. Sherrod Brown’s re-election campaign.

Abortion will be on the ballot in 2024, from the presidential campaign on down. And so will contraception: As regulatory and court decisions make over-the-counter care more available, candidates are campaigning to enact more restrictions on that access.

The political decisions being made to control women’s bodily autonomy will directly affect those who are already facing the worst discrimination and obstacles to accessing health care. States with the most restrictive abortion bans have some of the highest rates of Black maternal death — as much as 38% greater than in states without abortion restrictions.

A new coalition of values-based voters is emerging, challenging old political assumptions and building centers of strength and effectiveness. Ohio showed us what’s possible — now it’s up to us to show what’s next.

Christian F. Nunes is the president of the National Organization for Women. She wrote this for InsideSources.com.

American commentators have become masters at the art of “narrative building.” No matter the situation, no matter the facts, they have a unique ability to take a story and fit it into one of our preconceived notions of how the world works. A quick scroll online will find a finely produced editorial or podcast segment on any issue.

In Ohio, we’ve witnessed this finely tuned skill at work after the Aug. 8 election on Issue 1. This proposed constitutional amendment would have elevated the threshold to amend our state constitution to 60%.

The rationale for this proposal was straightforward: Ohio was one of 10 states allowing its constitution to be amended via citizen-initiated petitions with only a 50% vote.

This has led to a bloated state constitution packed with special-interest political agendas. The same document that safeguards free speech and religious liberty also has the specific land plots of the location of the “Toledo Hollywood Casino” enshrined essentially forever.

My organization, Center for Christian Virtue, a Christian public-policy organization in Columbus, Ohio, encouraged a “Yes” vote. Unfortunately, the ballot issued failed: 57% voted no and 43% voted yes.

In the background of this debate was another proposed constitutional amendment that would legalize abortion, up to birth, without the mother’s parents’ consent.

Unsurprisingly, after the loss of Issue 1, the media, including friends on the right, jumped on this as an opportunity to opine about abortion politics. They used this as a microcosm of how the pro-life position is not a winner and is a political drain on the conservative movement.

Yet, if any of these brilliant commentators had chosen to look at what happened in Ohio, they would have seen a very different, more interesting and important story.

The reality was that the debate around elevating the threshold to amend the state constitution to 60% is a decades-old debate in Ohio. In fact, five years ago when this proposal was put forward, the resolution was co-sponsored by a Republican and a Democrat.

The fundamental message of the “no” campaign on Aug. 8 had absolutely nothing to do with abortion. The name of the campaign was “One person/One vote.” They ran a very effective, if not manipulative, ad campaign targeted at core Republican and conservative voters, claiming this amendment would “end majority rule” and steal their voice. The opposition’s most potent ad had a pair of scissors cutting up the U.S. Constitution, with no mention of “reproductive rights” or abortion pills.

In Ohio, to say protecting unborn children and their mothers is a losing issue is nonsensical. When Gov. Mike DeWine ran in 2018, he boldly promised to sign the CCV-backed Heartbeat Bill to ban abortion once a heartbeat is detected in an unborn child.

At all three debates, the issue came up, and DeWine won and proceeded to sign the life-saving bill.

In 2022, his opponent tried to hang this issue around his neck — and she did very effectively. But instead of being a weight to drag him down, it was more like a gold medal, and DeWine won re-election by more than 40 points, winning 85 of Ohio’s 88 counties.

Add all this up, and it shows the actual narrative that’s much more Ohio-specific but does have national implications.

The opposition to Issue 1 recognized — and what the political left has correctly identified — is that their positions on critical social issues are so unpopular that they have to use their significant financial advantage to change the topic to win.

You will see this on full display in the coming months. Ohio’s Sherrod Brown is up for re-election and is rehearsing his aw-shucks, union-guy, let’s-grab-a-beer-and-talk-about-the-Browns shtick. In truth, he’s hoping not face the fact that he votes with Joe Biden 98% of the time.

And so it will go with the abortion debate in Ohio. The abortion industry’s only hope to win is if they can effectively downplay or ignore their proposal’s extreme and broad nature and convince Ohioans that this isn’t an attack on parental rights.

Either way, this is a story that has yet to be written, and my encouragement to our national narrative builders is to spend a little less time online and more time understanding American voters.

Aaron Baer is the president of the Center for Christian Virtue. He wrote this for InsideSources.com.

GOLF

Mason McCoy shot 5-under-par 135 for 36 holes to win the overall championship of the Norfolk City Amateur (Decker Cup) at Ocean View Golf Course.

McCoy, who starred for Salem High in Virginia Beach and has competed for Old Dominion, finished with a second-round 70 to beat runner-up Jacob Swiggart, a Virginia Wesleyan standout from Nashville, Tennessee, by five strokes.

Paul-Arthur Roth (145) of Virginia Beach won the junior championship, Jim Hopkins (160) won the B flight, John Bogstad (146) took the Senior A flight, Jeff Williams (160) won the Senior B flight, George Owens (142) prevailed in the Super Senior (age 65-and-over) A flight, Dan Steber (157) won the Super Senior B flight, and Debra Gwynn (192) won the women’s title.

More than 150 players competed.

COLLEGE WOMEN’S SOCCER

ODU continues shutout streak, goes to 4-0

Old Dominion continued its defensive perfection to start the season, improving to 4-0 Sunday night with a 1-0 shutout of Richmond in Norfolk.

Ashlynn Kulha scored 9 minutes and 31 seconds into the game off an assist from Andrea Balcazar Algarin. The Monarchs’ defense preserved that margin for the last 80 1/2 minutes.

ODU goalkeeper Emily Bredek made one save in 66 minutes, and teammate Erin Jones wasn’t tested in the other 24 minutes.

Taylor Montague made four saves for the Spiders (1-2-1) as ODU outshot UR 11-5.

Crain’s goal keeps W&M unbeaten

Ivey Crain scored with 3:43 remaining, giving William & Mary (2-0-2) a 1-1 tie against VCU (1-2-1) before 402 at Martin Family Stadium. The Tribe is unbeaten through four games for the first time in six years.

The Rams, coached by Hickory High alumna and W&M Hall of Fame player Lindsey (Vanderspiegel) Martin, went ahead when Kendyl Sarver headed in Anna Bagley’s corner kick in the ninth minute.

Crain half-volleyed Ginny Delacruz’s pass into the net for her third goal of the year to erase VCU’s lead. Both teams got off eight shots — all of W&M”s were in the second half. Tribe goalkeeper Zoe Doughty had one save. VCU’s Allison Karpovich, a junior from First Colonial High, made three.

No. 5 UVA blanks George Mason

Maggie Cagle scored twice as No. 5 Virginia (3-0-1) claimed a 4-0 victory at George Mason (0-4-0). Talia Staude had a goal and an assist, and Yuna McCormack added two assists. The Cavaliers have shut out all four of their foes.

No. 20 Hoyas stop Hokies

No. 20 Georgetown (3-0-1) defeated Virginia Tech 1-0 despite a season-high five saves by Hokies goalkeeper Alia Skinner.

Virginia Tech (2-1-1) yielded a goal to Maja Lardner in the 49th minute.

COLLEGE MEN’S SOCCER

No. 15 UVA falls to Loyola Marymount

Loyola Marymount upended No. 15 Virginia 3-1 in Charlottesville, dropping the Cavaliers to 1-1.

Ryan Kingsford scored twice and Jovan Prado assisted all three goals for the Lions (1-0-1) of Los Angeles.Goals by Kingsford and Lewis Clutton put LMU ahead 2-0 in the first 15 minutes.

Leo Afonso netted a penalty kick after an LMU foul against UVA’s Mouhameth Thiam in the 28th minute, but the Cavaliers never scored again. Kingsford capitalized on a UVA defensive mistake for a goal in the 88th minute.

Duquesne beats Hokies, JMU blanks UCLA in tournament

Duquesne (1-1) pulled away for a 5-1 victory over Virginia Tech (0-2) Sunday afternoon at the JMU Invitational in Harrisonburg.

Ethan Ballek’s goal in the 21st minute put the Hokies ahead, but the Dukes pulled even in the 35th minute and moved ahead 3-1 in the first 10 minutes of the second half.

In the tournament’s night game at Sentara Park, James Madison (2-0) overcame UCLA 1-0 on Balint Kocso’s long header goal in the 73rd minute. Luca Nikolai and Chay Strine got assists on the play.

The Dukes held a 12-11 shots advantage on the Bruins (1-1).

COLLEGE FIELD HOCKEY

No. 18 ODU drops season opener

Delaware upended No. 18 Old Dominion 4-2 at the L.R. Hill Sports Complex, though the Monarchs (0-1) outshot the Blue Hens 18-9.

After ODU received a card to take a player off the field, Genevieve Johnson scored with 30.8 seconds left in the first half to put Delaware (1-1) ahead 1-0.

Goals by Morgan Bradford and Kioki Oudshoorn gave the Blue Hens a 3-0 lead with 12:56 remaining. ODU rallied on goals by Marlon de Bruijne and Sanci Molkenboer, cutting the margin to 3-2 with 8:07 to go, and nearly tied the game on another Molkenboer shot. But Oodshoorn scored the final goal with 6:38 remaining.

Athletes competed in the 61st annual Coastal Edge East Coast Surfing Championship finals on Aug. 27, 2023, in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Zoe Benedetto defeated Talia Swindal in the women’s shortboard pro final, and Kolohe Andino defeated Levi Slawson in the men’s shortboard pro final.

In a massive contrast from the previous night, the Norfolk Tides fell 3-1 to Durham in a series finale Sunday before 5,141 at Harbor Park.

Taking the field about 17 hours after completing their stunning 13-12 victory Saturday night, the Tides managed just three hits against four Durham pitchers.

Norfolk still won the series 4-2. The Tides next will head to Massachusetts to duel the Worcester Red Sox in a six-game series starting at 6:45 p.m. Tuesday.

The Red Sox (70-55 overall) lead the International League second-half standings at 31-19, and the team that finishes on top will face the first-half champion Tides (76-49, 28-23) in Norfolk in the league championship series. Durham (70-56, 30-21) is in second place, 1 1/2 games behind Worcester.

Durham starter Taj Bradley, one of the Tampa Bay Rays’ best prospects, pitched four innings, giving up just two hits and a run. Carlos Garcia (1-2) gained the win by holding Norfolk to one hit in three innings, and Emmanuel Mejia and Trevor Brigden each kept the Tides hitless and scoreless in the eighth and ninth, respectively.

Tides starter Chayce McDermott shut out Durham for the first three innings, but the Bulls struck for all of their runs in the fourth and drove him from the game.

Austin Shenton walked and scored on Diego Infante’s double to center field. Johan Lopez’s pop dropped for a single in right field, driving in Kameron Misner, and Logan Driscoll grounded a single to right to send Infante across the plate.With one out in the bottom of the fourth, Joey Ortiz laced a home run to right-center, making the score 3-1.

But despite shutout relief from Logan Gillaspie, T.J. McFarland, Mike Baumann and Joey Krehbiel, Durham held on despite collecting just five hits.

INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE SECOND-HALF STANDINGS

(through all of Sunday’s games; 1H refers to a team’s first-half record)

Team, W-L, Pct., 1H

Worcester (Red Sox), 31-19, .620, -, 39-36

Durham (Rays), 30-21, .588, 1.5, 40-35

Scranton/W-B (Yankees), 29-21, .580, 2.0, 34-40

Lehigh Valley (Phillies), 29-22, .569, 2.5, 36-37

St. Paul (Twins), 29-22, .569, 2.5, 43-31

Nashville (Brewers), 28-22, .560, 3.0, 40-34

Buffalo (Blue Jays), 27-22, .551, 3.5, 34-41

Jacksonville (Marlins), 28-23, .549, 3.5, 32-42

c-Norfolk (Orioles), 28-23, .549, 3.5, 48-26

Iowa (Cubs), 27-23, .540, 4.0, 43-30

Indianapolis (Pirates), 26-24, .520, 5.0, 33-41

Toledo (Tigers), 26-25, .510, 5.5, 33-41

Louisville (Reds), 25-26, .490, 6.5, 40-33

Gwinnett (Braves), 24-25, .490, 6.5, 33-42

Columbus (Guardians), 23-26, .469, 7.5, 33-41

Memphis (Cardinals), 23-28, .451, 8.5, 39-36

Rochester (Nationals), 22-28, .440, 9.0, 34-39

Syracuse (Mets), 19-30, .388, 11.5, 33-41

Omaha (Royals), 17-32, .347, 13.5, 38-34

Charlotte (White Sox), 11-40, .216, 20.5, 35-40

c-won first half to gain berth in IL championship series.

VIRGINIA BEACH — It was twice as nice for Kolohe Andino’s return to the 61st Annual East Coast Surfing Championships after a 12-year hiatus.

Andino bested Levi Slawson to clinch the men’s pro title for the second time in his career. It came in choppy and varying conditions at the First Street Jetty underneath a cloudy and overcast sky.

Andino, a native of San Clemente, California, who also won in 2011 — the last time he competed in the event — and Slawson went wave for wave, snapping off sprays of water following sharp turns at the top of a cresting wave face in a 35-minute final heat, though performing consistently during the entire period proved difficult due to the infrequency of higher score-producing waves.

Both surfers also wowed the judges and crowd with quick, sweeping cutback turns and squeezed every fraction of a point from the contest area water with occasional lengthy rides into the shorebreak.

“Today was the toughest conditions by far — very challenging to judge, to read and to try and find the best wave when you’re competing,” said event director Wes Laine, who himself was a former top-10-ranked Association of Surfing Professionals competitor. He explained that the push of the wave coming from the southeast, coupled with the offshore wind coming from the northeast, naturally forced contestants to their right, into the wind and away from the jetty.

But he added that conditions were mostly favorable throughout the competition.

“This year, I think we were the luckiest we’ve ever been in 61 years,” Laine said. “Because out of a forecast that had virtually little surf, we had great waves for over a week.”

“Surprisingly it was pretty good all week,” said Andino, who represented the United States in the Summer Olympics two years ago in Tokyo. “Today was a little bit smaller but definitely contestable. I’m a die-hard surfer, and no matter where I am in the world, if it’s breaking, I surf. I wasn’t rattled or bummed about the conditions today.”

Andino’s second win comes two decades after his father, Dino, also claimed victory here.

“I try to stay not caring about my achievements at all,” said Kolohe Andino, who edged out Virginia Beach native and 2014 champion Michael Dunphy in the semifinals. “But (the announcers) said on the mic that my dad won in 2003 — so exactly 20 years ago. That’s actually more special to me.

“It’s just cool that my dad and I have won the same professional event. It’s one of the longer events going in all of surfing, so it’s got a lot of history.”

Florida pro Zoe Benedetto made the most of her second-ever ECSC appearance, besting Talia Swindal, the reigning North America Pro Junior champion, to win the women’s trophy.

“I made the semis here last year and just felt like I had more to give, so it feels nice,” said Benedetto, a resident of Stuart, Florida. She noted that the conditions were similar to her home break.

“Coming from the East Coast, I’ve surfed (waves like) that a lot,” said Benedetto, 18. “I’ve surfed that my whole childhood growing up. I just tried to pick the best possible waves that I could.”

On this Monday afternoon, two corn necklaces drape over Nikki Bass’ shoulders, dangling just above the oysters that jut from the shoreline.

It’s low tide on the Nansemond River and Bass is in her Suffolk backyard, analyzing the color and curve of each shell.

Even in the murky water, the copper bracelets on her wrists shimmer, signifying her role as a leader: She is a tribal historian and co-chair of the Nansemond Indian Nation’s tribal council. Centuries ago, the Coastal Algonquians would have harvested oysters near Bass’ home.

She wore the necklaces this day, she said, to honor the nation’s history “of feeding each other but also feeding settlers we encountered.”

The Nansemond Indian Nation, with its cultural connection to oysters going back thousands of years, is bringing an expertise to the oyster restoration conversation in Hampton Roads. The Nansemond River, which runs from downtown Suffolk and merges with the James and its other tributaries, is the ancestral water of the tribe. In 2020, the Nansemonds joined other environmental groups, including the Nansemond River Preservation Alliance and Chesapeake Bay Foundation, to increase the oyster population in the river and Chesapeake Bay. It is using historical, sustainable practices by growing “cauwaih,” Coastal Algonquian for “oyster,” to filter “suckquohana” — “water.”

The Nansemonds’ oyster reef was one of the largest in Virginia, according to Nansemond Indian Nation Chief Keith Anderson. The Nansemonds relied on oysters for food, tools and jewelry. The colonists’ displacement of Native Americans in the 1600s and overharvesting of oysters — along with modern climate change — led to the depletion of the reefs along the Nansemond River.

“We all, regardless of culture and as living persons, need to have access to clean water,” Anderson said. “It’s incredible to see the partnerships and collaborations. It’s not just a Native thing or a non-Native thing, it’s coming together as kindred human beings.”

On July 8, with the help of Karla Smith, a co-founder of the NRPA, the Nansemonds deposited 7,000 oysters into their ancestral waters for the first time in history. They placed them on Smith’s reef in Chuckatuck Creek, which runs parallel to the Nansemond River.

In 2021, after the nation started an oyster garden, Bass was inspired to publish a “story map”: “Indigenous Life on the Nansemond River: Our Story of Cultural Revitalization through River Stewardship.” In the map, she emphasizes the importance of oysters to the Indigenous people of Hampton Roads.

The map won a national award, but Anderson didn’t realize its impact until he attended conferences where he learned that groups from around the world were using it. The nation has received more environmental support because of it.

Even with the new support and collaborations, the nation’s culture has remained at the forefront of its conversations with environmental organizations.

“Culture is the way we understand our relationship to the environment,” Bass said. “When people view the environment as something to use rather than something to be in a relationship with, it leads to depletion and destruction.”

In 2020, the Nansemonds started the oyster garden with a dozen cages floating beneath a dock on Cedar Creek at Mattanock Town, where the tribal headquarters is located. It borders Lone Star Lakes Park in Suffolk, where historical records show a Nansemond village existed nearby in 1608.

With the oyster garden, Bass learned how to bead, a popular craft in her culture. It involves stringing together small, colorful beads to create patches that resemble oysters, crabs and what she considers her “river relatives.” When the oysters were placed on Smith’s reef in July, Bass wore a ribbon skirt she’d made that featured Coastal Algonquian women harvesting oysters in the intertidal zone right off the shore.

“The intertidal zone is such a special place because so many of our sacred cultural items come from there,” she said.

Anderson has noticed improvement from 2018 when the reef on Cedar Creek looked barren. Now, he sees the reef built up with new oysters. “Nansemond,” he added, means “fishing point.”

Anderson said there’s a generational obligation to take care of the water, and Bass feels it too.

“We recognize that they experienced the same loss that we experienced, and by including them in our cultural revitalization we are keeping that mindset of bringing all of our relatives forward with us into the future,” Bass said.

For 51 years, from 1924 to 1975, the Nansemond people did not exist, according to the state of Virginia. The Racial Integrity Act of 1924 allowed only two designations on birth certificates: white or colored. The Virginia General Assembly repealed the act in 1975, but the half-century of altered records made it difficult for Native Americans around the state to meet the criteria for federal recognition. The Nansemonds didn’t receive federal recognition until 2018.

The nation has around 550 members. It has a parcel of over 500 acres of wetlands at the northwest corner of the Great Dismal Swamp, about 10 miles north of downtown Suffolk, under a conservation easement that prevents development on it. In 2013, the nation obtained a riverfront deed from Suffolk agreeing to set aside 70 acres of city-owned land at Mattanock Town to own in the future.

The oysters in the cages at Mattanock will be mature enough to be deposited on an offshore oyster reef by next July. Every month, members of the nation help clean and monitor the growth. Oysters need to be cleaned to ensure that other river relatives aren’t preventing their growth. Oysters also need to be free of slime to allow baby oysters, known as spat, to attach to the mature oysters.

Tribal member Peyton Walcott, 17, and his mother, Heather, drove from their home in Fairfax County earlier this month to help clean cages. He is working to connect with the nation’s culture in other ways.

He has created curriculum resources that cover Virginia’s Indigenous history for the 180,000 students in Fairfax County schools. He was concerned that changes in the state’s proposed history standards would minimize Indigenous history.

“When I was growing up they didn’t teach about Natives at all. I pretty much learned everything I knew about the tribe from my mom and others in the tribe,” Peyton said. “I think it is important to teach people about what the tribes are doing in the last 10 to 20 years. No one really knows about that.”

Peyton’s mother has reconnected with her heritage, too. Since traveling to Suffolk this summer, she was able to meet people who knew her grandfather, who took an active role in the nation’s push for state recognition in the 1980s.

Oysters connected not only members of the Nansemond but also members of the community at large. The Department of Forestry is helping the tribe reverse the damage that industries over the decades caused to the land. The nation has also received assistance from the NRPA and Chesapeake Bay Foundation in an oyster shell recycling program. Local restaurants donate used shells, which are used as a substrate for reefs — a practice the nation has done for thousands of years.

“Every time we put our shells out there, we are in a space our ancestors were in, we are feeling the same things they felt. I really love reconnecting in a hands-on way,” Bass said.

Next year, the nation hopes to deposit 10,000 oysters into its ancestral waters. Anderson dreams of a harvesting lab  that will be used as a hub for research and development, known nationally and globally.

“Anyone that comes here, non-Native and Native, they feel something special,” he said. “This area being surrounded by water, through the Nansemond River and Cedar Creek, it has a power of its own.”