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It's a Blue Tsunami! Here's What Happened on Election Week. · The Roundup

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  SPEAKER_00: Hello and welcome to the Lookout News Roundup, your weekly news podcast from the Desert Southwest, brought to you by the region's only LGBTQ plus accountability news outlet.
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  SPEAKER_00: I'm Lorenzo Gomez, Lookout's Election Accountability Fellow, sitting in for Joseph Jafari.
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  SPEAKER_00: If you like what you hear, subscribe to the Roundup and rate us wherever you're listening.
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  SPEAKER_00: It really helps people find us.
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  SPEAKER_00: It's election week, so let's get into it.
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  SPEAKER_00: We're starting in Arizona where voters appear to have approved Prop 318.
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  SPEAKER_00: The Arizona Mirror reports it led by more than 200,000 votes in early returns Tuesday night.
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  SPEAKER_00: The measure bars trans students from girls' sports teams and from school locker rooms, showers, and bathrooms that don't match their sex assigned at birth.
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  SPEAKER_00: It also extends the sports ban to private leagues like Little League and lets people sue schools that allow access.
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  SPEAKER_00: Republicans sent it to the ballot after years of vetoes by Governor Katie Hobbs.
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  SPEAKER_00: In Southern Arizona, Democrat Joanna Mendoza, an openly LGBTQ Marine veteran, unseated Republican Representative Juan Siscomani in the 6th Congressional District.
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  SPEAKER_00: The advocate reports Decision Desk HQ recalled the race Tuesday night.
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  SPEAKER_00: Mendoza served nearly two decades in the Navy and Marine Corps, partly under Don't Ask, Don't Tell, and campaigned on protecting Medicaid, SNAP, and WIC.
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  SPEAKER_00: Arizona Democrats are also claiming both chambers of the legislature, which they haven't controlled in about 60 years.
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  SPEAKER_00: The Arizona Mirror reports that as of Tuesday night, Democrats led in seven Senate seats and nine House seats now held by Republicans.
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  SPEAKER_00: If those leads hold, they'd have 20 of 30 Senate seats and 36 of 60 House seats.
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  SPEAKER_00: But as of Thursday, many of those races are still not called.
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  SPEAKER_00: Arizona voters also appear to be rejecting Prop 144.
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  SPEAKER_00: KJZZ reports about 57% voted no in early returns.
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  SPEAKER_00: The Republican-backed amendment would have required ID with mail ballots, which are now verified by signature, and critics called it a misleading way to end mail voting.
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  SPEAKER_00: Now over to our neighbors in Colorado, where the state's two anti-trans ballot measures are still too close to call.
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  SPEAKER_00: With about 86% of votes counted, propositions 134 and 135 both are still ahead but by single-digit percentage points.
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  SPEAKER_00: Prop 134 bars trans students from teams that match their gender identity, and Prop 135 bans gender-related surgery for minors and blocks public funding for gender-affirming procedures.
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  SPEAKER_00: The campaign behind those measures also got more outside money before the vote.
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  SPEAKER_00: The Colorado Times recorder reports Athletes for Action, a Philadelphia group tied to mega donor Richard Elyne, gave another$70,000, bringing the total to nearly$100,000.
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  SPEAKER_00: Meanwhile, Colorado's preschool fight reached the U.S.
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  SPEAKER_00: Supreme Court on election day.
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  SPEAKER_00: Chalkby, Colorado reports two Catholic preschools want to join the state's universal preschool program without following its rules against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
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  SPEAKER_00: More than 2,000 preschools, including religious ones, take part under those rules.
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  SPEAKER_00: A decision is expected by the end of June.
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  SPEAKER_00: In Aurora, GEO group settled a 14-year forced labor lawsuit from former detainees at its immigrant detention center on the day the trial was set to begin.
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  SPEAKER_00: The Denver Post reports detainees said they had to clean or face solitary confinement for$1 a day.
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  SPEAKER_00: The terms were not disclosed.
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  SPEAKER_00: Now on to national news.
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  SPEAKER_00: In what can be described as a rainbow wave, the advocate reports New Hampshire Representative Chris Pappas defeated former Senator John Senunu to become the first openly gay man elected to the U.S.
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  SPEAKER_00: Senate.
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  SPEAKER_00: Delaware Representative Sarah McBride, the first out trans member of Congress, won re-election, and Bentley Hudgens became Georgia's first out trans and non-binary state lawmaker.
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  SPEAKER_00: In Alabama, Democrat Allison Montgomery unseated a Republican state representative in the Huntsville suburbs.
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  SPEAKER_00: The Alabama political reporter says she'll be the first trans member of the state's legislature.
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  SPEAKER_00: Vermont voters added gender identity to their state constitution.
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  SPEAKER_00: Vermont Digger reports about 79% approved proposal for, which guarantees equal protection regardless of race, sex, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression, among other traits.
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  SPEAKER_00: And Missouri voters rejected Amendment 3, which would have repealed abortion rights and written a ban on gender-affirming care for minors into the state constitution.
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  SPEAKER_00: The Beacon reports 55% voted no in preliminary results.
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  SPEAKER_00: The state's 2023 law restricting that care stays in effect.
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  SPEAKER_00: Not every result went that way.
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  SPEAKER_00: The Nebraska Examiner reports Nebraska was on track to write sex-based school sports rules into its constitution, with initiative 442 leading roughly two to one.
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  SPEAKER_00: And in Washington, a trans sports initiative led by nearly 14 points, with about 60% of ballots counted.
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  SPEAKER_00: If it holds, initiative 638 would be the first law of its kind approved directly by a state's voters, and the first in a blue state.
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  SPEAKER_00: And finally, four New Hampshire families of trans youth are asking the federal judge to block the Trump administration rule barring Medicaid from covering gender dysphoria treatment for minors.
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  SPEAKER_00: The Concord Monitor reports the judge heard the request last week but didn't set a ruling date.
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  SPEAKER_00: And that's the roundup for this week.
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  SPEAKER_00: If you like this episode, subscribe and leave us a rating wherever you're listening.
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  SPEAKER_00: You can also get this exact news roundup and more by going to lookoutnews.org and subscribing to our newsletter along with our weekly events calendar and legislative newsletters covering what's happening in the Capitol in your neck of the woods.
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  SPEAKER_00: Until next time, stay safe, stay informed, and look out for each other.