Virginia’s race for governor has been dominated by economic issues, the government shutdown and the violent text messages despatched by the Democratic candidate for legal professional common.
But throughout their only debate this month, Democrat Abigail Spanberger pressed her Republican opponent, Winsome Earle-Sears, over a subject that once dominated Democratic politics: abortion rights.
“In states where they further restricted abortion access, women have died,” Spanberger stated. “If my opponent were to become governor, that is what she would inflict upon Virginia.”
In the closing weeks of the off-year elections that can set the tone for the 2026 midterms, Democrats are trying to strike a stability between the social gathering’s current emphasis on affordability and its longtime focus on abortion rights, a problem social gathering strategists credit score for helping Democrats in the 2022 midterms however didn’t have the identical resonance in final yr’s presidential election.
In Virginia and New Jersey, statewide candidates are highlighting their Republican opponents’ previous anti-abortion feedback. In Pennsylvania, the place three state Supreme Court justices are going through a retention vote, Democrats are pointing to abortion as one in all the points at stake. And in California, Planned Parenthood and Reproductive Freedom for All are a part of the coalition backing a poll initiative to enact a Democratic gerrymander in response to Republican mid-cycle redistricting.
“There’s been a lot of armchair politics talk from so-called pundits about whether or not the party is talking too much about social issues, not about economic issues,” stated Mini Timmaraju, the president of Reproductive Freedom for All, which is investing $5 million into 2025 races. “We’re not seeing it that way, and I don’t think any candidates who are actually running see it that way either.”
If Virginia Democrats preserve management of the House of Delegates this yr — the state Senate is just not up for election — they may intention to create a poll measure subsequent yr enshrining abortion rights into the state Constitution.
The query is whether or not Republicans will have the ability to neutralize the concern to the extent Donald Trump did throughout his race towards Kamala Harris. The president, who appointed three of the Supreme Court justices who struck Roe v. Wade, stated throughout the 2024 campaign that he would go away abortion coverage “to the states.”
“If there were more single-issue, pro-choice voters, Kamala Harris would be president and the Democrats would control the Senate and the House,” stated Mike DuHaime, a Republican strategist who beforehand labored with former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.
Since taking workplace, Trump stopped Medicaid funding from going to Planned Parenthood and federal well being regulators have opened a research into the security of the abortion drug mifepristone, elevating issues amongst abortion-rights advocates that the US would possibly impose new limits on medicine utilized by girls in states that ban or sharply prohibit abortion.
Those advocates say there’s nonetheless a chance to distinction the positions of the two events.
“It would be a mistake to learn the wrong lessons of 2024,” stated Fatima Goss Graves, president of the National Women’s Law Center Action Fund.
Democrats discuss about abortion rights and affordability
Spanberger has spent most of her campaign operating on affordability, together with her plans to scale back well being care, housing and vitality prices.
But of the $11 million she’s spent on TV advertisements this yr, $1.1 million has gone towards advertisements in the final 30 days on Earle-Sears’ abortion stance, in keeping with information from media monitoring agency AdImpact.
In a brand new digital advert for Spanberger, former President Barack Obama ties the race to abortion, saying Republicans “will keep attacking abortion rights and the rights of women.”
Spanberger’s campaign stated in an announcement that her “focus remains on addressing” voters’ issues over excessive prices and the influence of funding cuts enacted by the Trump administration.
“But as we approach the first Virginia gubernatorial election since the fall of Roe, it’s also important for Virginians to know that Winsome Earle-Sears has a long record of opposing reproductive rights for Virginia women,” the assertion reads.
A current Christopher Newport University ballot discovered that abortion was not a prime concern for voters, whose prime three priorities had been threats to democracy, inflation and immigration. But voters stated they trusted Spanberger on reproductive rights points over Earle-Sears by a 20-point margin. Spanberger led Earle-Sears by 10 proportion factors in the ballot.
Spanberger’s operating mates have additionally leaned into abortion as a campaign concern towards their opponents, who’ve backed proscribing entry.
“It’s not solely about abortion,” stated Virginia Democratic Party Chair Lamont Bagby. “It’s about protecting Virginian rights.”
Jay Jones, the Democratic legal professional common candidate going through condemnation over texts wherein he fantasized about the taking pictures of a legislative colleague, is operating an advert that includes a girl who had an abortion. His advert goals to painting Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares, who’s looking for reelection, as an “anti-abortion extremist.”
Ghazala Hashmi, the Democratic candidate for Virginia lieutenant governor, has spoken on the campaign trail about troublesome pregnancies she skilled, together with two that resulted in miscarriages.
“That’s the right that we are trying to protect for all women, given the complexity and the very, very personal nature of medical care,” Hashmi, a Virginia state senator, instructed NCS.
Both Earle-Sears and New Jersey’s Republican gubernatorial candidate, Jack Ciattarelli — who’s operating a aggressive race towards Democrat Mikie Sherrill — have tried to downplay abortion. A spokesperson for Earle-Sears’ campaign stated her feedback at the gubernatorial debate earlier this month replicate her view on the concern.
“My position is that the commonwealth needs to come together and figure out where it wants to be,” Earle-Sears stated this month. “It’s not going to be my view. It’s going to be a view of the majority.”
Ciattarelli has stated he helps a girl’s proper to decide on, although he has voted in the previous to restrict funding to Planned Parenthood.
Virginia is the solely Southern state that has not restricted abortion rights since Roe v. Wade was overturned. In 2023, Gov. Glenn Youngkin hoped to win full Republican management of the state legislature by boosting candidates operating on a 15-week abortion restriction, which he described as a compromise. Instead, Democrats maintained management of the state Senate and flipped the GOP-held House of Delegates.
Miyares, Virginia’s legal professional common, stated he backs exceptions to abortion bans in the case of rape or incest or when the lifetime of the mom is in danger.
“Virginia voters will decide this issue directly next year, and Attorney General Miyares will enforce the law they impose, dispassionately and faithfully, as he always has,” a campaign spokesperson stated in assertion.
John Reid, Hashmi’s opponent for Virginia lieutenant governor, recommended on a current podcast look that the state was susceptible to changing into a vacation spot for “abortion tourism.”
Reid stated in an announcement that he would wish to debate Hashmi on abortion and different points.
“I would enjoy the opportunity to join Ghazala on the debate stage to discuss the troubling reality that Virginia’s laws have made it an outlier in the region,” he wrote, including he needs to focus on increasing assist for girls’s well being care and younger households.