Republicans have a problem connecting with voters on some big cultural issues. Most conservatives see major problems running rampant in our society, and we see that one party is disproportionately responsible. So why does that party keep winning?

Abortion kills perhaps as many as a million American children each year — wildly more than any other cause, including the Democrat bugaboo of “gun violence.” Yet Democrats demand abortion policies as permissive as those of only a few socialist/communist countries in the world, and they won at the ballot box yesterday.

Democrat Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear is going to get a lot of attention from the national party as a rising national star after winning reelection in his deep-red state. He won primarily by being a left-winger who convinced voters he’s not certifiably insane. He distanced himself from Joe Biden and he focused on state issues — most of which exhibited that he actually is far more competent and likable than Biden. The state is growing economically, even as voters struggle with the inflation Beshear’s party caused. Voters approved of the way the governor handled natural disasters like floods and tornadoes, and even when it came to not-so-natural ones like COVID, voters at least declined to punish Beshear for typical Democrat tyranny.

Arguably, Beshear’s key to victory was using abortion to his advantage, painting his opponent, state Attorney General Daniel Cameron, as an “extremist” and himself as a protector of limited government. Yet Beshear is the social extremist, having vetoed a GOP bill banning so-called “gender-affirming care” for children.

It shouldn’t go without mentioning that Cameron was repeatedly cast as the “protégé” of Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell, who bears the distinction of being the least popular politician in America. Clearly, McConnell should be thinking about retiring, not picking the next generation of leaders.

Then again, Cameron’s closing argument was that he was endorsed by Donald Trump, who boasted that Cameron is his guy, “not really ‘a McConnell guy.’”

For what it’s worth, McConnell last won in 2020 with nearly 58% of the vote. Trump won Kentucky in 2020 with 62%.

Overall, many of the same dynamics played out in neighboring Virginia, where Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin suffered a setback by not only failing to help his party take the state Senate but by losing the state House the GOP had won back in 2021. That said, it wasn’t a disaster, either. Virginia Republicans lost three House seats and sit at a 49-51 minority, all while gaining a seat in the Senate.

Youngkin has been floated by some GOPers desperate for a viable challenger to Trump for the presidential nomination as a late-entering savior. Yesterday’s results will likely put that idea to rest. Virginia voters like Youngkin and he may still have a national future, but a state that is dominated by the suburbs of Washington, DC, declined to give him and his party unified control in Richmond. That will hamper his agenda for the next two years and likely lower his profile unless he can effectively govern with a bipartisan coalition. Moreover, given that Virginia also often serves as a bellwether a year ahead of national elections, yesterday’s results bode ill for the GOP in 2024.

A side note about Virginia state races. Democrat Susanna Gibson became famous by soliciting donations for live-streaming sex with her husband and then having the chutzpah to decry the publicity as “an illegal invasion of my privacy designed to humiliate me.” She is currently trailing her Republican opponent in a race for a state House seat, which at least would be a minor defeat for pornography and a victory for those who want to keep her bedroom out of government.

Finally, back to abortion, Ohio voters overwhelmingly passed Issue 1, a constitutional amendment codifying the “right” to abortion, and the result wasn’t even close. Ohio backed Trump by eight points, and the abortion amendment succeeded by 12 points yesterday. Democrats successfully turned their extremist position into one of limited government, and Ohio voters went for it, just as voters have in similar ballot issues in six other states after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year.

The ugly reality in Ohio is that the language of Issue 1 endangers all children, not just those in the womb. It establishes “an individual right to one’s own reproductive medical treatment, including but not limited to abortion.” That opens the door for medical mutilation on the gender front. And because it’s now enshrined in the state constitution, legislators will have little wiggle room in the future.

Planned Parenthood’s butchers are rejoicing at the newly secured revenue streams, which is why the company and numerous other out-of-state actors spent so heavily to win.

Voters in Ohio also approved Issue 2, which legalizes pot in the state and — sarcasm alert — should really help the mental capacity of voters in the future.

What connects all the dots here? Democrats are master manipulators of voter emotions. Democrats want to kill children in the womb and groom and mutilate them once out of it. Yet these members of the Party of Big Government are successfully framing both issues as keeping government out of decisions made at home. They are casting Republicans as power-hungry prudes who want to take control of people’s intimate decisions. The emotional appeal — especially to women voters — is incredibly strong.

Exit question: Where’s “keep the government out of my bedroom” during Pride Month?