Governor Kasich—

Hi, it’s me again. Last night was kinda crazy, huh? I mean, the whole primary process is a little wonky, and the caucuses especially seem like something out of pre-revolutionary voting, but that was just something else. As a total electoral geek, I’d love to see one of these some time, but it’s really hard to imagine that this is actually the best way to run a voting system in a developed nation. Wow.

We’ll leave for another time the irony of the Republican party, who regularly use the specter of voter fraud and the demand for ever-stricter regulations as a flimsy and transparent excuse to make it harder and harder for poor and marginalized people to exercise their fundamental democratic rights, being seemingly incapable of handling the basics like people voting one time and only where they’re registered.

I’m seeing some conflicting reports out there, but it looks like all 30 of Nevada’s Republican delegates have been spoken for… and it’s not looking good for you. I mean, you got beat by Ben Carson, and as far as I can tell, his main contribution to public discourse has been combatting the idea that brain surgeons are particularly intelligent. Super Tuesday is right around the corner, though, and I was encouraged to hear you’re not ready to drop out yet. That’s good; we’ve got work to do. More on that in a second.

I’m still really conflicted about your candidacy. I think you’re the GOP’s best bet of not getting wrecked in the general election. And the idea of any of those guys you’re running against having any position of real power (lord, Cruz is bad enough in Congress) is downright frightening. But here’s the thing: while I think you’re the least-bad option in a whole bunch of ways, I certainly don’t want you to actually win.

In my last letter, we talked about your awful positions on abortion rights. At one point, I said:

That’s to say nothing of the attacks on Planned Parenthood, which treat all other women’s health issues as collateral damage.

I worry that you may have missed the point. Just a few days after that, you went and signed a bill defunding all the important health services Planned Parenthood provides. This doesn’t change abortion funding at all; it’s simply an open attack on women, particularly poorer women. What you’re doing is the traditional heavy-handed GOP approach, trying to legislate it out of existence without any care for the underlying causes, or the collateral damage along the way. The model is punitive: you’re attacking women, punishing them collectively.

Yes, Planned Parenthood provides abortion. They also provide education and contraception. There’s a whole lot of women out there who’ve never been in position to need an abortion, thanks to Planned Parenthood. And, of course, all the other services they provide for women’s health, like screenings for cancer and STDs. You’re making that worse, less effective. I wish you’d stop.

Like I said, I’m glad you’re not dropping out, because we’ve got work to do. Keeping up with what I said in my last letter, I’m making another donation to Preterm’s Access Fund. We only made $10 yesterday, but with your help we can make Super Tuesday a good day for abortion access in Northeast Ohio.

Good luck on Tuesday. Talk to you soon,

Anthony Sorace, OH-11