Judge who said teen’s grades were not good enough to get abortion voted out of office

With the end of Roe v. Wade, abortion and reproductive rights have become a deciding factor for voters nationwide. Proving once again that local elections matter, Florida voters ousted two officials who were openly against abortion rights in two separate elections on Aug. 23.

In addition to removing Florida Rep. James Bush from office, Jared Smith, a judge in Florida’s Hillsborough County, also lost his reelection.

Prior to the election, both Bush and Smith received widespread condemnation for their views. While Bush crossed party lines as the only Democrat in the state legislature who voted on a 15-week abortion ban and the anti-LGBTQ "Don't Say Gay" bill, Smith denied a 17-year-old girl an abortion without parental consent, claiming her school grades demonstrated a lack of “intelligence or credibility.”