Kamala Harris causes unexpected end to Texas campaign – The Irish Times

On By Yukito

Kamala Harris will be campaigning in the Republican stronghold of Texas this week, in the clearest signal yet that the Democratic vice president has made abortion and reproductive rights central to her latest address to voters.

Just two weeks until Election Day, a senior Harris campaign official said the vice president will travel to Houston, Texas, on Friday for an event focused on the state’s strict abortion laws, which prohibit access to the procedure in almost all cases.

The trip, the latest stage of the presidential campaign, underscores how Ms. Harris and Democrats are making reproductive rights one of their key messages on Election Day, scheduled for November 5.

The 11-hour trip to Texas will also be seen as something of a political risk as Ms. Harris spends valuable campaign time in a state that the nonpartisan Cook Political Report newsletter calls “likely Republican” and where a majority of voters will almost certainly support Donald Trump for president rather than one of the seven swing states that will decide victory in the White House.

The vice president repeatedly blamed her Republican opponent for stringent abortion laws in Texas and across the country, calling them “Trump abortion bans.”

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Ms. Harris’ visit could also support Democratic Senate candidate Colin Allred, who is challenging incumbent Republican Senator Ted Cruz in a race that is expected to be close and is likely Democrats’ only chance of taking the Senate seat in November.

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The U.S. Supreme Court in 2022 overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade case, which guaranteed a constitutional right to abortion. Trump took credit for the decision at the time, noting that he had appointed three justices who voted to overturn the precedent.

Since then, Republican officials at the state level have introduced increasingly prohibitive laws: More than 20 states now have laws restricting abortion earlier in pregnancy than Roe’s viability standards. In 13 states, including Texas, abortion is banned in almost all circumstances, including for victims of rape and incest.

Some conservative lawmakers and judges go further, calling for restrictions on access to contraception and infertility treatments, including in vitro fertilization.

But the legislation is seen as inconsistent with public opinion, and fierce opposition at the ballot box has propelled Democrats to victories in the 2022 midterm elections and several off-year elections.

Trump has tried to soften his stance — rejecting calls from the religious right for a national abortion ban, for example — in an attempt to avoid alienating moderate and centrist voters.

It’s unclear whether the issue will benefit Democrats again at the ballot box in November. But there are signs that this has cost Trump support among voters of all ages.

While the latest polls show Harris and Trump virtually tied in swing states, the former president especially has trouble with female voters. A recent NBC News poll showed that women across the country support Ms. Harris by a margin of 14 points.

On Monday, during a campaign stop in the battleground state of Pennsylvania, Liz Cheney, a former GOP congresswoman who is now campaigning for Ms. Harris, called on women across the political spectrum to “reject cruelty” and “misogyny.”

“(Abortion) is not an issue that we see falling apart along party lines,” Ms. Cheney added. “There are many of us across the country who are pro-life, but we have seen…state legislatures pass laws that result in women not getting the care they need.” – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2024