Janna Meyrowitz Turner’s biggest concern going into the U.S. midterm elections was that more than half of American voters had an election denier on their ballot.
She was quite nervous, alongside pundits and polls who expected a red wave, a conservative flush that would take hold of Congress, state legislatures and city halls. That didn’t happen.
Instead, many candidates backed by Donald Trump failed to garner voters. Pro-abortion, anti-slavery, and pro-marijuana proposals passed while a young and diverse crop of politicians were elected at federal, state and local levels. The red scare was nipped. For now, at least.
“By and large, these candidates lost and will continue to do so,” Turner, the founder of Synastry Capital and co-founder of the coalition VCs for Repro, told TechCrunch. “Despite the deliberate barriers to keep Black, brown, young and new Americans from voting, these folks turned out in record numbers, which means our government will start to better reflect our citizens.”
All in all, Democrats fared better than expected and are predicted to maintain control of the Senate, while Republicans are favored to take hold of the House. TechCrunch conducted a vibe check with investors and founders to gauge how they feel as results continue trickling in. Many were happy with the progress being made, while others spoke of the issues they aim to tackle next as calls increase for progressive investors to start speaking up.
Naturally, one issue on everyone’s mind was abortion.
Voters in many states had to vote on abortion-related proposals since the overturn of Roe v. Wade left such decisions in the hands of states. Shortly before the midterm elections, more than 100 VC firms came together to create VCs for Repro, a coalition rallying investors to vote in favor of reproductive health and wield more of their sociocultural power for change.
Ballot results show that VCs for Repro’s cries were part of a larger clamor to protect reproductive autonomy. Kentucky voted against amending its state constitution to say that there was no right to abortion; Vermont, Michigan and California voted to make reproductive freedom a constitutional right. Turner noted that pundits and polls drastically underestimated how much Americans support abortion. If it wasn’t clear then, though, it is now.
“Abortion clearly matters to Americans,” Turner told TechCrunch. “Truly nothing is ‘just’ a woman’s issue.”
TechCrunch previously noted that states imposing restrictions on reproductive health were at risk of a brain drain as founders, talent and even investors would seek to move elsewhere, lest they put themselves and their workers at risk.
Despite today’s news, abortion restrictions and bans remain in states such as Georgia and Texas, which house two major startup hubs. This is just one reason why Christie Pitts, a general partner at Backstage Capital and co-founder of VCs for Repro, said she is still following this issue closely.
“Access to safe abortion is a human right that underpins many other issues,” she said. TechCrunch, adding that the issue was also critical to her as an investor. “The criminalization of abortion is anti-innovation.”
Beyond Roe’s reversal
Slavery (yes, slavery) was also on the ballot in five states, an issue that Tiana Tukes and Jackson Block, investors at Colorful Capital, were watching closely. Alabama, Tennessee and Vermont voted in favor of amending their constitutions to prohibit involuntary servitude and enslavement as a form of criminal punishment. Louisiana voted no, while it’s too soon to call the vote in Oregon.
“The anti-slavery measures and prison reform are overdue to right historical wrongs,” Block told TechCrunch.
He also pointed out that minorities within the LGBTQ+ community remain disproportionately incarcerated and over-represented in the criminal justice system and called out congressional inaction on the Equality Act, which would extend federal civil rights protections to the LGBTQ community.
Following Roe’s reversal, “there is a palpable concern of how civil liberties will be enshrined and protected for women, LGBTQ+ and minorities broadly,” Block continued. There might be some hope there, though, as it appears Democrats will at least maintain control of the Senate.
Kate Anthony, the founder of the gender-affirming health startup Euphoria, finds this a relief. TechCrunch previously reported on the legal miasma and political fight companies like Euphoria must face even to exist as mainly Republican-proposed anti-trans legislation continues to sweep the nation.
Prior to this election, Anthony worried that conservatives were relentlessly targeting transgender people as a way to attract votes, and if they succeeded, it would galvanize more people to continue attacking her community. “The early results suggest that attacking transgender people and our rights are not an effective way to garner votes, and I am relieved,” she told TechCrunch.
“This outcome means we won’t face any new regulatory friction at the federal level,” she continued, in reference to the Democrats maintaining control of the Senate. “The transgender civil rights battle is mainly happening in the courts right now. By having control over judicial appointments for two more years, we, as a community and company, can breathe a little easier.”
Overall, there were sprinkles of encouraging news. Pitts was excited to see John Fetterman trounce Mehmet Oz to secure a blue Senate seat in Pennsylvania, and Maura Healey was elected as the first woman and openly lesbian governor of Massachusetts. Turner, who also invests in plant medicine, was happy to see some progressive action on cannabis and psychedelics. Maryland and Missouri voted to legalize marijuana, while Colorado decriminalized certain psychedelics.
Martine Pierre, the founder of the cannabis company Cannalution, was quick to draw attention to those results.
“Maryland and Missouri are my two more significant wins as a cannabis edtech founder as they both have cities that have large populations of Black people, who are our core audience,” she told TechCrunch, noting that less than 2% of the cannabis industry is Black-owned and Black people are still disproportionately imprisoned for cannabis-related offenses. “There is no better time than now to promote change and capitalize on the momentum.”
Block was happy to see more LGBTQ+ representation on the ballots, while Maria Salamanca, an investor at Ulu Ventures, won her local school board election in Florida. Speaking to TechCrunch, Salamanca said she decided to run in her Orlando district because it is one of the biggest targets in an increasingly red state.
“VC alone can’t change many of the entrenched challenges that our country faces: education, workforce development and the future of our economy being among the most important ones,” she continued. “We have to think about the range of tools available to us. I have been leveraging capital deployment as one for the last eight years and am excited to tap into public policy as well.”
Though there are still some places and people to keep an eye on. For example, in Ohio, the populist Republican J.D Vance, a former venture capitalist backed by Donald Trump and Peter Thiel, was elected to the Senate.
Anthony, meanwhile, pointed to Ron DeSantis, who is notably anti-trans and opposed to ESG investing. Just reelected as governor of Florida, he is widely regarded as the heir apparent to the Republican Party.
Alas, there is much work that progressive investors can do. For one, VCs for Repro plans to expand the coalition to touch on other pressing political issues, such as immigration and data privacy. At the same time, Monique Woodard, the founder of Cake Ventures, which is part of VCs for Repro, hopes that an increased push for affordable housing helps bring more innovation to San Francisco, as gentrification and rent prices continue to drive people away.
The results of how residents voted on Propositions D and E, two forms of legislation to promote affordable housing in the city, were unclear at the time of publication.
Meanwhile, Diana Murakhovskaya, the co-founder of The Artemis Fund, is supporting the transparency law proposed by U.S. Representative Emanuel Cleaver that could shine a light on trillions of assets held by notoriously discreet LPs. She isn’t the only one pushing for new laws. Annie Miller, the founder of the health startup w/you, has been contacting state officials in hopes of proposing an anti-discrimination law to help increase the amount of capital allocated to minorities and women.
“Putting more money into the hands of diverse fund managers would lead to more wealth creation opportunities for a broader population,” Murakhovskaya told TechCrunch. “This would help balance who holds the influence in some of the key issues at play.”
At least, for now, there are glimpses of hope. “Democracy was the real winner last night,” Turner said. “Which is the underpinning of everything.”
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