Why a federal abortion ban shouldn’t go to the states, but a campaign to protect a woman’s right to choose: The case of Nevada senator Lindsey Graham
It’s a theme playing out across the country, from gubernatorial contests to House and Senate races. While most GOP attack ads focus on issues like the economy, the border and crime, some Republicans have looked to counter Democratic messaging on abortion rights, hoping to cut into what has become a motivating issue for Democrats since the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June.
“I believe it should be up to the states,” he said after a rally in New Britain hosted by the Republican National Committee, according to The Connecticut Mirror. “Right here in Connecticut, we have codified a woman’s right to choose. That is what I support.
Sen. Lindsey Graham’s introduction of a bill last month that would ban abortion nationwide after 15 weeks of pregnancy has complicated matters for some GOP candidates. A source close to the senator said that he introduced the legislation because he didn’t think ignoring the issue was helpful to the Republicans and he wanted them to have an actual policy proposal. But the move has helped the Democrats and made it more difficult for Republicans to say if they think abortion should be left to the states or a federal ban.
Democrats have damaged America by ruining our economy, causing chaos at the border, and increasing crime in our cities. They changed our lives. But one thing hasn’t changed: abortion in Nevada,” the spot says.
Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson took a different approach. He supports a federal abortion ban, but now wants a referendum to decide the issue. His campaign even released a sample ballot with a multiple-choice quiz, asking: “At what point does society have the responsibility to protect the life of an unborn child?”
The Democratic senator is running an ad that says she will always fight for a women’s right to make their own health care decisions, while the Republican senator doesn’t.
Tiffany Smiley is a Republican Senate candidate in Washington state and she is against a federal ban. “Patty Murray has spent millions to paint me as an extremist,” Smiley says of the longtime Democratic senator in one of her spots. I’m pro-life, but not in favor of a federal abortion ban.
Murray started airing a straight-to-camera ad, in which she states, “It’s a horrifying reality that politicians across our country now in charge of the most private health care decisions.”
After the Supreme Court decision in June, those numbers are even more dramatic. Republicans have spent $16 million airing about 100 ads, while the Democrats have spent more than 130 million running ads about abortion.
Republican groups, including the National Republican Senatorial Committee, have urged their candidates not to allow their opponents to define them on abortion but also not to fight the election solely on that issue.
“The Democrat position is extreme and strident, our position should be based in compassion and reason,” read an NRSC memo sent to GOP Senate campaigns in the wake of the Dobbs decision. The group said Democrats who hold views that are out of themainstream should be called out by the candidates.
Joe O’Dea, the Republican nominee for Senate in Colorado, addressed the issue in his race against Michael Bennet, a Democratic senator from a blue state.
In a recent ad, the first-time candidate and businessman touted his outsider credentials – “I’m an outsider, not a politician” – and his support for abortion in the early stages of pregnancy – “For the first five months, that should be a woman’s decision between her and her doctor.”
O.Dea said he was going to vote for Elena Kagan, a liberal justice who dissented from the Dobbs ruling, as he wants to end the blood sport on the Supreme Court.
The Story of Walker and Budd: Voting About the South Carolina House Companion Bill to Graham’s Proposal for Abortion
“If it is an issue in the district and it is showing up in your polling, talk about. If it is not an issue that shows up in your polling, talk about issues like the economy that are more advantageous to you,” the operative said.
“The Supreme Court made it clear: This is a Raleigh decision, not a Washington decision,” North Carolina GOP Senate nominee Ted Budd said in a local interview in September.
But shortly after making that point, the congressman co-sponsored the House companion bill to Graham’s proposal, which would let elected officials in Washington, and not the North Carolina capital of Raleigh, decide how to regulate abortion.
Walker paid for a woman’s abortion when they were in a relationship, according to The Daily Beast. The news outlet reviewed a receipt showing her $575 payment for the procedure, along with a get-well card from Walker and her bank deposit records showing the image of a $700 personal check from Walker dated five days after the abortion receipt.
The politics editor for the DailyBeast said in reply, “I can tell you we stand behind every word and feel very solid about the story.”
“I’m for life,” Walker says of his alleged abuses in the Georgia Senate and how it affects the public perception of abortion
“Well, I sent money to a lot of people,” he said. “I give money to people all the time because I’m always helping people. I believe in being generous. God has blessed me. I want to bless others.”
The allegation against Walker is the latest in a series of stories about the football legend’s past that has rocked the first-time candidate’s campaign in one of the most competitive Senate races in the country. Earlier this year, Walker acknowledged reports that he had three children he had not previously talked about publicly.
Walker has often boasted of his work helping service members and veterans struggling with mental health. Yet The Associated Press reported in May that various records showed he overstated his role in a for-profit program that is alleged to have preyed upon veterans and service members while defrauding the government.
“I’m for life,” Walker has said repeatedly as he campaigns. He said that there are no excuses for the procedure when asked if he’d allow for any exceptions.
“I have a profound reverence for life. I have a deep and abiding respect for choice. I believe a patient’s room is too small and cramped a space for a woman, her doctor and the United States government,” he said, emphasizing Walker’s support for a national ban.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/04/1126692026/herschel-walker-rejects-abortion-report-georgia-republican
What Do We Know About Michigan Pro-Abortion Rights? A Commentary on a Democrat’s Challenge to the Rule of Law in Georgia
When told of The Daily Beast story and asked if it could affect the outcome in Georgia, Warnock was not interested. “I’ll let the pundits decide,” he said.
She didn’t embrace the result of a previous election or promise to embrace the outcome of a future election, telling us we don’t trust what she says.
Whitmer has placed her support for abortion rights at the forefront of her bid for a second term in a state where Republicans control the legislature. She has also touted her economic efforts and increased funding for schools.
After winning the GOP nomination, and an endorsement from former president Donald Trump, that is supported by Betsy DeVos’ family, Dixon has criticized the policies of Gov. Lauralee Wittmer. She has also leaned into cultural battles, proposing a policy that would ban transgender girls from competing in sports with the gender they identify with, as well as one modeled after the controversial measure Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law earlier this year, which critics dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” law.
The governor’s race has largely revolved around the stark differences between Whitmer and Dixon on abortion rights, and Whitmer opened the debate by pointing to her lawsuit to halt the enforcement of a 1931 law banning abortions in virtually all instances in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade earlier this year.
“I am pro-life with exceptions for the life of the mother. I know that this will be decided by the people of Michigan or by a judge. The governor does not have the right to disobey a judge or amend the constitution.
During the primary, she stated that she opposed abortion in the case of rape or incest, but after talking with victims, she concluded there was healing through that baby.
Even as she conceded she would have done something differently in hindsight, she defended her actions, saying that “we made tough decisions because lives were on the line.”
There were 35,000 deaths during the Pandemic in Michigan. They may not matter to some. But they matter to me, every single one of them,” Whitmer said.
On the role of the gas tax in funding road improvements in Michigan, a spokeswoman told CNN Michigan Politics on Thursday night (with an apparent lack of public support)
On Thursday night, the driver took aim at one way that the state’s gas tax was raised to pay for road improvements.
Dixon said Whitmer “didn’t fulfill her promise,” citing a report by the Michigan Transportation Asset Management Council warning that roads are continuing to deteriorate.
She boasted of a bonding program that she said was worth $48 billion in transportation funding. She also credited Biden and the Democratic-led Congress for its infrastructure bill, which she said “sent us billions.”
She said they were fixing the roads. We are moving dirt. We are using the right mix and materials, and they are built to last. You don’t overcome decades of disinvestment in a day.
Dixon, acknowledging that a shift to electric vehicles will over time reduce gas tax revenue, said Michigan will need to pursue “public-private partnerships” to fund road construction. She did not say what those would include, but they typically involve tolls.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/13/politics/michigan-governor-debate/index.html
Black Holes, Abortion, and Other Violence in the House and Senate: A View from Molinaro (R) Against a Comprehensive Proposed Pro-Abortion Law
There is an idea that guns should be taken away from law-abiding citizens in order to keep them out of the hands of criminals. That is not going to work. “When we find someone who commits a gun crime, they need to be put away.”
The DCCC’s phrasing – King “stands with Republicans who want” a national abortion ban with no exceptions for rape or incest – allowed the ad to avoid explicitly claiming that King herself wants a national abortion ban with no exceptions for rape or incest. The ad did not acknowledge that King was against the proposals that were implied to be supported by her.
Molinaro describes himself as “personally pro-life” and generally opposes abortion after 17 weeks. In the debate, he said that he would not support a nationwide ban and that he didn’t think congress had a role to play under the Supreme Court decision. He thinks there should be restrictions on late-term abortions at the state level. At another August event, Molinaro said regarding abortion: “I do not support imposing the federal will on states.” At a third August event he said he supports exceptions for life of the mother, rape and incest, including after 17 weeks.
The Democrats’ principal outside-swallowing entity for House races released an ad last week that claimed that Becker would pass a statewide abortion ban, with exceptions for rape, incest.
The ad doesn’t mention that Becker has previously pledged to vote against any federal abortion ban.
The group also backs anti-abortion laws much stricter than Graham’s proposal, including legislation that doesn’t include all three exceptions. But again: Becker does support those exceptions.
The group the House Majority PAC ad cited when it said Becker has been endorsed by anti-abortion “extremists,” Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, told CNN last week that it backs various kinds of anti-abortion legislation in various jurisdictions, including the 15-week ban recently proposed by Sen. Lindsey Graham that includes all three exceptions, and that it endorses anti-abortion candidates who support the three exceptions.
An ad was released in late September by the House Majority PAC, which criticized the Republican candidate in Connecticut’s 5th District. According to the ad, “Washington Republicans are talking about a nationwide ban on abortion, including in Connecticut, and George will help them by voting for Republican leadership who have promised to do just that.”
Democrat President Chuck Schumer and the state where we are going downhill: Pennsylvania Sen. J. Fetterman’s high-stakes debate performance against Republican Mehmet Oz
Chuck Schumer expressed some concern about Democratic chances in Georgia in the final weeks before the elections, but he was reassured by the recent debate performance of the nominee.
“The state where we’re going downhill is Georgia. The Democratic leader said it was hard to believe the Republicans would vote for Herschel Walker.
Of Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman’s high-stakes debate performance against Republican Mehmet Oz, Schumer said: “It looks like the debate didn’t hurt us too much in Pennsylvania … so that’s good.”
There were overheard comments during a conversation among Schumer, President Joe Biden and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul. The speech Biden gave to the state Thursday was part of his closing message in the elections, in which he painted Republicans as a threat to Americans pocketbooks.
Less than two weeks out from Election Day, Democrats are fighting to hold onto their narrow majority in the 50-50 Senate, where Vice President Kamala Harris has the tie-breaking vote. Both Georgia, which Democrats are defending, and Pennsylvania, which represents their best opportunity to flip a seat, are critical to that mission.
The Democratic leader said his party was “picking up steam” in Nevada, where Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto is among the party’s most vulnerable incumbents.
Most polls show the Democratic senator with a slight lead over the Republican candidate in the final stretch of the campaign.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/27/politics/schumer-georgia-pennsylvania-democrats-senate-midterms/index.html
Oz vs. Fetterman: What do we really want to hear about a Republican re-election? The message from Real America’s Voice
“You can’t afford to give a clown a vote on Roe v. Wade,” Fetterman told MSNBC’s Joy Reid on Thursday, adding that Oz’s comment showed “what he actually believes about abortion.”
There was a lot of attention given to Fetterman’s stroke after the debate, which caused Oz to make comments that Democrats immediately seized on.
It was important for us to be there. And we showed up,” the Democrat told Reid. I always got back up when I got knocked down. And, to me, that’s really at the essence of our campaign, is that we’re running for any Pennsylvanian that ever got knocked down that has to get back up. And that’s really what we’re running on.”
The Republican governor nominee in Michigan states that there was a plan by the Democratic Party topple the United States after the killing of George Floyd because they thought it was payback for the Civil War.
In June 2020, Tudor Dixon, a former TV news anchor, made the comments on Real America’s Voice, which hosts former Trump adviser Steve Bannon’s show.
In a monologue at the beginning of the show, she said that Democrats were using the moment topple her after they attempted to create the Black HouseZone outside of the White House.
The Democrats were divided on the issue of slavery during the Civil War as some of them wanted to expand slavery in the West while others wanted to leave it up to referenda in new territories. Lincoln was re-elected in the 1860 election because of the divide.
More than 100 years later, however, after the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Democratic Party lost more and more southern White voters to Republicans, who adopted the mantra of state’s rights and the “Southern strategy” to appeal to conservative White voters.
The democrats sat back in their designer suits while watching the country rip itself apart because they were getting it all back, the slaves again. The poor and broken will be looking to them and begging for help. And they will gladly own you,” adding that next they will take “your guns, your speech and your God.”
The campaign was questioned by CNN about the comments. The campaign responded not by addressing the substance of the comments but rather by claiming “CNN is rushing to the aid of their favored candidate, Gretchen Whitmer.” CNN followed up by asking if Dixon wrote the monologue about the Civil War, the campaign did not respond.
A CNN KFile review found that she peddled inaccurate claims about schools and education as well as her claim that school nurses could perform abortions if a ballot initiative was passed.
“It could be a school nurse that would be giving somebody an abortion without a parent’s consent,” said Dixon in a July 2022 interview with a local TV network. “It’s a healthcare professional that can perform an abortion. She stated that term was an open-ended one in a different interview with the network. It could also be a school nurse. The same claims were made on the Michigan Radio morning show.
But under Michigan state law, schools are forbidden from discussing abortions in the context of reproductive health, and teachers and staff face disciplinary action from their districts for referring or assisting students in obtaining an abortion.
When did Black Wall Street get ahold of the law? A conversation with Bo Hines about a rape panel and a county assessor
She said thatEquity means the government will provide everything for you. “So you are teaching children everybody should be equal. That is the next step to socialism, because what they’re saying is that government should be providing everything for you, and you should all be equally poor.”
History has been rewritten for years by them. It’s not Republicans in our schools. Republicans don’t write the curriculum for our children and the unions are not run by Republicans. No, it’s Democrats,” she said, adding that the exclusion of Black Wall Street and the Tulsa race massacre in 1921 from school curriculums was because Democrats control curriculums. “They don’t want you to know that history, the true history.”
Some of these pivots have been clumsy. Bo Hines, a former college quarterback who is running for a House seat in North Carolina, backs creating a panel that would decide whether to allow abortions in case of rape or incest. He has been vague about how it might work.
“There are certainly legal mechanisms you could place legislatively that would create an individual basis,” Hines told Spectrum News. Democrats blasted out a news release calling the idea “post-Dobbs rape panels.”
Mehmet Oz is running against John Fetterman in the Senate race in Pennsylvania. But he implied during their lone debate that “local officials” should be involved in the decision of whether to terminate a pregnancy. Who he was talking about was a mystery. What do you think of the county assessor? — and Democrats pounced.