Debate Breakdown
I can’t believe the debate was just this past Tuesday—I feel like we’ve had a year’s worth of news since then! But let’s rehash a bit: Vice President Kamala Harris absolutely spanked Donald Trump in a performance that even Fox News couldn’t deny. She dragged him on every issue, but it was their exchange on abortion rights where Harris truly shined.
When Trump tried to rely on his ‘back to the states’ line, for example, claiming that “everyone” wanted the end of Roe, Harris was able to shut it down immediately:
“You want to talk about this is what people wanted? Pregnant women who want to carry a pregnancy to term suffering from a miscarriage, being denied care in an emergency room because the health care providers are afraid they might go to jail and she's bleeding out in a car in the parking lot? She didn't want that.”
Because Harris consistently brought the issue back to the real people impacted by abortion bans, Trump ended up seeming even more out-of-touch and callous. (If such a thing is possible!) In the end, Harris did something that would have been unthinkable just two years ago: She reclaimed ‘family values’ on abortion.
The polling that night showed unprecedented positive response to how Harris discussed abortion—which doesn’t bode well for Trump’s already-huge gender gap among voters.
For my full debate analysis, read below:
Attacks on Democracy
The ballot measure news this week was absolutely bananas. We saw massive attempts to stop voters from having a say on abortion rights in Missouri, Florida and Nebraska.
Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft tried to decertify the state’s abortion ballot measure after a conservative judge ruled that the proposed amendment was invalid. But the state Supreme Court ruled that abortion will be on the ballot in Missouri, hopefully ending any further attacks until the vote. Once the election is over we know the legal fights will start all over again.
The conservative legal group that tried to boot Missouri’s measure off the ballot used the same tactic this week in Nebraska. The Thomas More Society argued in front of the Nebraska Supreme Court that the measure violated the state’s single subject rule. Remember, their claim is that language like “reproductive freedom” could include an infinite number of subjects. Thankfully, they lost there too and Nebraska’s Supreme Court ruled that abortion will be on the ballot.
Meanwhile, Florida Republicans are launching a state-funded attack against Amendment 4 in a manufactured ‘fraud’ investigation into petition signatures. They’re even using the power of state agencies to lobby against the pro-choice measure, a move that state Democrats say is illegal. These attacks are ongoing, and I’ll be keeping a close eye on them.
If you didn’t get a chance to read my column about why Harris/Walz should be talking about anti-abortion attacks on democracy, you can read it below:
Abortion Rights Wins
It was so nice to have some really big pieces of good news this week. In addition to wins in the Missouri and Nebraska Supreme Courts, a judge struck down North Dakota’s abortion ban, ruling that the law “takes away a woman’s liberty and her right to pursue and obtain safety and happiness.” Unfortunately, it may take a minute for that ruling to be felt on the ground, because there are no longer any abortion clinics in the state.
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