Aug. 3, 2022: Last night's biggest primary winner wasn’t a candidate

What a night. Millions of voters took to the polls yesterday, and the takeaways are many: the blocked political return of a scandal-plagued former governor, mixed results (once again) for former President Donald Trump, and primary defeats for two incumbent members of Congress seeking reelection. But the most surprising vote — and possibly most wide-reaching — wasn’t a race between two candidates; it came instead on one of the most divisive issues in American life: abortion rights. In Kansas ... It marked the first time since the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade that voters had a chance to directly weigh in on abortion rights. By a stunning, roughly 20-point margin, Kansas voters rejected a constitutional amendment that would have given state lawmakers the chance to either further restrict or ban abortions in the state. Turnout swelled — “approaching what’s typical for a fall election for governor,” per the AP — and the “no” vote did well not just in Democratic strongholds, but in conservative and rural areas, outperforming Joe Biden's 2020 vote share there. Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook newsletter Raghu Manavalan is the Host of POLITICO's Playbook. Jenny Ament is the Executive Producer of POLITICO Audio.