Ohioans voted to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution Tuesday, another sweeping repudiation of efforts to curb reproductive rights in a contest that was the most closely watched referendum in the country this year. The decisive win in a Republican-controlled state that voted twice for Donald Trump is likely to boost Democrats’ hopes that protections will be established in other states during next year’s presidential election, as well as provide fuel for their candidates going forward. Preliminary exit polls conducted by The Washington Post suggest that the passage of the amendment was driven by strong turnout among Democratic-leaning groups and swing groups, with women overwhelmingly favoring the measure, while men backed it by a smaller margin. The majority of Black and Latino voters supported the measure, although White voters — the majority of the electorate — were more evenly divided.

Ron DeSantis’s biggest donor is considering switching his support to Donald Trump, in a sharp rebuke of the Florida governor’s White House aspirations. Robert Bigelow, a Nevada real estate investor who has funded space exploration and research into paranormal activities, gave more than $20mn to the DeSantis campaign earlier this year, the largest donation to any 2024 candidate, according to the latest federal filings. But Bigelow criticised DeSantis for running a weak campaign — and said Hamas’s attack on Israel last month showed the US needed a “streetwise” leader such as Trump.