Republicans Leading New Charge to End the Death Penalty

Republican lawmakers in at least six states are pushing to eliminate the death penalty, signaling a broader reversal by many conservatives on an issue that has long been a bedrock for their party.

In Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Montana and Wyoming, Republicans in legislatures controlled by their party have sponsored bills this year to end capital punishment, citing fiscal and moral concerns. Some Republicans in New Hampshire, where Democrats dominate the statehouse, are backing a similar proposal. And a GOP lawmaker in Louisiana’s Republican legislature said he plans to introduce a repeal bill in the coming months.

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Thirty states still have the death penalty, but executions have dipped in recent years due to a host of factors, including shortages of lethal-injection drugs and growing controversy around whether they cause undue pain. Last year, eight states carried out 25 executions, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. In 1999, by comparison, there were 98 executions, the highest number since the death penalty was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court as constitutional in 1976.

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Prominent Democrats including former President Obama and Hillary Clinton supported executions in certain cases, but overall only 35% of Democrats are in favor of capital punishment compared with 77% of Republicans, according to a 2018 Pew Research Center poll. Since 1996, support for the death penalty has fallen by 36 percentage points among Democrats and 10 points among Republicans.

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Earlier efforts in red states to overturn the death penalty haven’t been successful.

Last year, New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, a Republican, vetoed a death-penalty repeal bill passed by the then GOP-controlled legislature. After Nebraska lawmakers in the Republican-dominated statehouse voted to abolish the death penalty in 2015, GOP Gov. Pete Ricketts vetoed the legislation, saying the legislature was “out of touch with Nebraskans.” When lawmakers overrode his veto, Gov. Ricketts threw his weight behind a ballot measure to reinstate the death penalty that was passed by voters in 2016.

Most proposals this year to end capital punishment in Republican-led states have yet to be voted on. But in Wyoming, after passing the state house 36-21, the death penalty repeal was defeated in the state senate last week by a vote of 12-18. Ten Republicans backed the measure.

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