Democrats seize on abortion ruling
Candidates in midterms hope voters turn to ballot box; GOP treads carefully
Democrats across the country are seizing on the Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade, with state and federal candidates seeking to turn anger about the decision into support at the ballot box, even as Republicans aim to keep attention on rising prices and crime less than five months before the midterms.
Led by President Joe Biden, who declared Friday that “Roe is on the ballot” and “personal of freedoms are on the ballot,” Democrats on the front lines of the fight to keep the party’s slim congressional majorities have cast their campaigns as key parts of a larger battle to restore abortion rights prevent the rollback of other liberties. Democratic candidates for governor, attorney general and offices at the state level, where abortion laws will now be fully determined, pledged to put the issue at the forefront of their campaigns.
“We are facing a watershed moment for our constitutional rights,” said Cheri Beasley, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in North Carolina, a key battleground and a state that could draw more women seeking abortions from nearby states barring the procedure. Speaking on Friday at a park in Raleigh, Beasley warned, “I hope you all know that this doesn’t end this, that the threats don’t stop here.” She urged supporters: “This November let us run, not walk, to the polls.”
Republicans have largely praised the ruling, but some suggested different matters, such as the economic challenges confronting Americans, should take precedence, while others cheered the power of states and lawmakers to decide the future of abortion laws — amounting to a wider range of responses than Democrats, more united in their anger, have offered.
“Roe doesn’t change settled law and it won’t distract voters from unaffordable prices, rising crime or the border crisis,” said Adam Laxalt, the Republican Senate nominee in Nevada, in a statement. In his state, there is a state law legalizing abortion.
The contrasting reactions reflect each party’s broader midterm calculations. Democrats trying to overcome Biden’s low approval ratings as well as high gas prices and violent crime have been searching for ways to shift the focus to other issues and give voters second thoughts about replacing them with Republicans. GOP leaders, who have long felt well-positioned to make gains, are wary of refocusing on topics that could diminish their advantage.
While it’s unclear whether the ruling will change the contours of the midterms, the Friday decision that overturned the constitutional right to abortion established nearly 50 years ago has added a new element to some of the biggest races across the country.
More than a dozen states have trigger laws that automatically ban most abortions and more could ban the procedure soon due to previously blocked laws that could take effect, including Georgia and Ohio, where there are Senate races that have generated interest from leaders in both parties.
“This is insanity. Ohio has traditionally been a centrist state,” said Rep. Tim Ryan, the Democratic nominee for U.S. in the Buckeye State. He said the issue will be important in his campaign: “This level of extremism is not going to play in Ohio.”
Shortly after the decision Friday, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, a Republican, filed a motion to lift a stay on a 2019 state law that banned abortions after about six weeks. Yost later wrote on Twitter that the injunction had been removed, though liberal groups are still fighting his move.
Ryan also sought to tether the debate over abortion to the cornerstone themes of his campaign: “We built a campaign around issues like freedom — economic freedom, good middle class jobs and wages and making sure we rebuild the middle class. This is an issue of freedom as well,” Ryan said.