A report from Politico this morning takes a deep dive into Kamala Harris’s promise to become even more involved in the battle over legal abortion in the wake of Dobbs. As the report puts it, she’s aiming “to hit the campaign and fundraising circuit,” trying to make Roe v. Wade a central issue in the upcoming midterm elections.
One source told Politico that Harris wants to be “out in America three days a week,” traveling as part of a strategy to push the pro-abortion message on behalf of Democratic candidates. At an event for Pennsylvania gubernatorial hopeful Josh Shapiro, Harris drilled down on the importance of electing “a majority pro-choice general assembly” in the state. Here’s more from Politico:
For weeks, Harris has held meetings with lawmakers in states where abortion rights have been, or will be, greatly restricted. Those meetings have been a mix of listening sessions and opportunities to relay promises the administration will assist in the push back against restrictions.
But the next chapter in her strategy will get more aggressive. White House aides said the vice president is going to specifically head to red and purple states to call out “Republican extremism” on issues like abortion. On Monday, Harris will visit Indiana, as the state begins a special legislative session on abortion, the first in the nation since Roe v. Wade was overturned last month. The White House says she’ll meet with abortion rights advocates and state legislators during her trip. . . .
Democrats say Harris is uniquely qualified to make the push both as the first woman vice president and a past state and local elected official herself. Allies and attendees of Harris’ legislator meetings say she has leaned on that experience to stress that “she inherently understands the stakes”of state and local elections on abortion policy.
But there’s little evidence that a nationwide push in favor of unlimited abortion, let alone one led by the vice president, will be a successful strategy for Democrats. Multiple surveys in the wake of Dobbs suggest that few voters, let alone swing voters, were especially perturbed about the ruling. Instead, typical top-line issues, most notably the economy, inflation, and gas prices, continue to dominate voters’ minds.
Even before the economy got as bad as it is, there wasn’t much reason to think that support for abortion on demand is a position that swings elections. In Virginia’s gubernatorial election last November, Democrat Terry McAuliffe went all in on abortion, hitting Republican Glenn Youngkin repeatedly on the issue in campaign ads and even campaigning outside an abortion clinic. But the exit polls in the race suggest that, on the abortion issue, voters actually broke sharply in favor of Youngkin.
Meanwhile, Harris hasn’t proven herself the most competent spokeswoman on the issue. As a presidential-primary candidate, she marked herself the most radical in the field by pledging to instate a regime of “preclearance” under which her DOJ would block any state laws that it deemed in violation of Roe. Shortly after Dobbs came down, Harris implored voters to consider how the ruling would affect their sons: “If you are a parent of sons, do think about what this means for the life of your son and what that will mean in terms of the choices he will have.” It’s hard to find an argument better suited to confirming the point pro-lifers have been making for generations. And just yesterday, Harris offered this absurdity in an interview: “Listen, women are getting pregnant every day in America, and this is a real issue.”
Abortion isn’t going to save Democrats in November, and there’s no reason to believe that marching Harris around the country to talk about abortion will save them, either.