The Fight for Abortion Rights Takes Center Stage in Gubernatorial Races Across the Country

Washington, DC – With less than 50 days until the midterm elections, a new POLITICO article explores the pivotal role that abortion rights is playing in gubenatorial races. Given the overwhelming public support for abortion access across the country, anti-abortion rights candidates are attempting to downplay their stances and change the subject. However, in races where the winners “could quite literally determine the level of access to abortion for millions of women,” champions for reproductive rights will not let candidates lie and deceive their way into the governor’s mansion. 

As POLITICO notes, in battleground governor’s races across the country, the difference between abortion rights candidates and backpedaling anti-abortion candidates could not be more clear: 

ARIZONA: “On Friday, an Arizona court said that a 19th-century abortion ban can take effect, drawing cries of outrage from Democrats there — and mostly silence from Republicans. ‘I’m mourning today’s decision,’ Katie Hobbs, the Democratic nominee for the state’s open seat, said in a statement. ‘We now must turn our anger into motivation to win in November and restore our fundamental rights.’”

MICHIGAN: “Michigan Republican Tudor Dixon, who is running to unseat Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, has consistently defended her belief there should be a complete ban on abortion, even as Whitmer and her allies have continued to hammer her over it.”

MINNESOTA: “Other Republican gubernatorial candidates have similarly tried to remove themselves from the abortion debate. Former state Sen. Scott Jensen, the Republican nominee in Minnesota who said earlier this year before the Dobbs decision that he would ‘try to ban abortion’ as governor, also went up with an ad recently trying to contrast himself with Democratic Gov. Tim Walz.”

NEVADA: “At the same time, [Joe] Lombardo’s campaign sponsored an event for Nevada Right to Life, a group that opposes abortions at all stages of pregnancy, and paid two crisis pregnancy centers for event-related fees. It’s been a challenging needle for Lombardo to thread in the close contest against Democratic Gov. Steve Sisolak in a Western state that often chafes at government interference with individual liberties — and especially running alongside Republican Senate candidate Adam Laxalt who has been outspoken on the abortion issue.” 

PENNSYLVANIA: “The day the Dobbs decision was handed down, state Sen. Doug Mastriano, the Pennsylvania GOP gubernatorial nominee and an ardent proponent of a no-exceptions abortion ban, shrugged off the issue as a distraction. But he told a reporter last week that abortion is ‘the single most important issue, I think, in our lifetime,’ casting the race as a stark choice.”

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