While Donald Trump comfortably cruised to victory over Kamala Harris, , voters in a handful of red states cast their ballots for policies favored by centrists and progressives – such as minimum wage protections.
Meanwhile voters in some deep-blue states favored measures that are conventionally associated with conservatism, such as tough-on-crime initiatives.
These outcomes to some extent also undermine the notions of monolithic “red states” and “blue states”. Voters in 2024 repeatedly cited economic woes and abortion as among their top issues, and approved of certain progressive or conservative policies even when they didn’t like candidates associated with them.
Missouri is among the most striking examples. Trump won this midwestern state’s 10 electoral votes after receiving 1,739,020 ballots, compared with Harris’s 1,190,806 – a landslide 58.5%.
But Missouri also also green lit a union-backed ballot initiative to increase the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour by January 2026. This initiative also provides paid sick leave to workers of large employers.
And voters overturned the state’s near-total abortion ban, establishing a constitutional right to abortion until fetal viability.
Alaska, which at press time is likely to award its three electoral votes to Trump, approved a ballot measure to raise the state minimum wage to an hourly $15 by 2027.
Voters in Arizona, which at press time is poised to hand its 11 electoral votes to Trump, OK’d a ballot measure to create a fundamental right to abortion. The measure prohibits the state from restricting or banning it before 24 weeks.
Results were equally striking in Montana, which saw Trump best Harris 59.1% to 37.9% at press time. Almost the same amount – 57.1% voting yes and 42.9% no, according to NBC News – elected to amend the state constitution to clearly include “a right to make and carry out decisions about one’s own pregnancy”. This includes abortion access until fetal viability, which is generally around 24 weeks.
In several heavily Democratic states, voters indicated that they weren’t all-in for progressivism. In California, residents voted in favor of Proposition 36.
This ballot initiative enacts harsher punishments for retail theft, drug offenses and property crimes. The proposition revamps portions of a watershed 2014 law that downgraded several non-violent felony charges to misdemeanor charges.
That earlier initiative was meant to reduce the number of incarcerated people in California’s prisons and shift money to drug treatment and resources for crime victims. Supporters saw it as a major win for criminal justice reform, but others said it led to increased property and drug crimes, as well as homelessness.
Proposition 36 enjoyed support from numerous law enforcement and business organizations, as well as conservatives and some Democratic mayors, such as San Francisco’s London Breed. It aimed at tackling homelessness and fentanyl abuse, with longer prison sentences for dealers and court-mandated drug treatment.
As of press time, Massachusetts voters have struck down a proposal to increase tipped employees’ wages. The measure would have incrementally increased tipped workers’ wages until reaching the state minimum wage in 2029, while still allowing tipping, NBC News said.
Read more of the Guardian’s 2024 US election coverage
