Victorious Democrat Erin Oban
Here's one for the
silver linings pile: As you may know, North Dakota's insidious fetal personhood amendment (known as Measure 1) went down to defeat last week, and it didn't just fail, it got destroyed by
a decisive 64-36 margin. That's pretty impressive loss for such a red state in such a red year, but it gets better.
Not only did Measure 1 implode, its chief proponent, Republican state Sen. Margaret Sitte, also lost, and by a big spread as well: Democrat Erin Oban, pictured above, ousted Sitte with a crushing 58-41 victory. In addition to her fanatically anti-choice activism, it certainly helped that Sitte is bugnuts crazy. As community member by Rashaverak detailed last year, Sitte opposed a bill that would require caretakers to notify the authorities if a child goes missing or dies. Why?
I affectionately call this bill the "Make Mary and Joseph Felons Bill," because Jesus was missing for three days.
Oh. My.
What makes Sitte's defeat even more amazing is that her 35th District is very, very red—in fact, it went for Mitt Romney 60-38 in 2012. The means Oban out-performed Barack Obama by an astounding 39 points despite the massive GOP wave. There may not be any other Democrat in the nation who can lay claim to a feat like that. In a year with very few positive developments for Team Blue, this surely counts as welcome news.