November 9, 2026 — 7:30pm

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Washington: While the world’s eyes were on the blue wave that swept over US Congress, elsewhere in the nation’s capital, Australian Alex Butterworth was watching a much more specific vote.

On the ballot at this year’s election in Washington was Initiative 86: a proposed ban on force-feeding birds to enlarge their livers, and a ban on importing products derived from that process. Yes, a ban on foie gras.

Alex Butterworth, the Australian co-founder of Butterworth’s restaurant in Washington DC. LEIGH VOGEL / AFR

In a one-party town (DC is the bluest city in the country and backed Kamala Harris by 92.5 per cent in 2024), the great foie gras debate was the only issue with the capacity to divide the electorate.…