New York Democrats are setting their sights on voters who care about abortion access to boost support in their efforts to flip House seats back to blue in 2024.
In the 2022 midterm elections, the Democrats lost seven battleground House seats, four of which were flipped from blue to red in New York, with other losses in strong blue states, including California, Oregon, and New Jersey.
OHIO COULD BECOME NEXT BATTLEGROUND STATE ON ABORTION
In the aftermath of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade and states subsequently adopting their own abortion restrictions, ranging from six-week limits to total bans, many are expecting abortion rights to be a central point of the next election cycle.
“It’s possible there are voters who felt immune to the fallout of the Dobbs decision previously," Ryan Stitzlein, senior national political director of NARAL Pro-Choice America, told Politico. "This will be at their front door, and we’re confident that this will help activate them to engage even deeper on this issue than even we saw in 2022."
Allies of House Democrats are already gearing up to push abortion access in New York, with the House Majority PAC — the Democrats' main House political action committee — budgeting $45 million just in the Empire State in 2024.
Mike Smith, president of House Majority PAC, said “the path to a Democratic House Majority runs through New York.”
Pro-abortion rights advocates believe Republicans may actually help Democrats in their fight to restore blue seats in the House, as the GOP's continued efforts to push anti-abortion legislation will serve as a spotlight for any Democratic-led campaigns.
House Majority PAC's campaigns are likely to target newly-elected New York Republican Reps. Anthony D’Esposito, Mike Lawler, Marc Molinaro, George Santos, Nick LaLota, and Brandon Williams — all of which voted for a bill that passed the House in January making it a felony to not provide medical assistance to an infant that survives an attempted abortion, which is already illegal.
“This is an issue that’s not going away because Republicans are going to keep pushing the envelope and keep pushing the envelope,” House Majority PAC Executive Director Abby Curran Horrell said.
New York Congressional Democrats contend Republicans want to install a nationwide ban.
“I remain convinced that there’s going to be a move to a national abortion ban by Republicans in the House and in the Senate. And nothing I’ve seen dissuades me of that,” Rep. Joe Morelle (D-NY) said in an interview with Politico. “The protections that are offered in states like New York and California, if there’s a national abortion ban, won’t be a way to protect women anymore.”
Morelle, who won his toss-up race in the 2022 midterm elections, said abortion was a "centerpiece" of his campaign.
“Incumbents here, they’re going to have to make a decision about whether or not they’re going to adhere to the national agenda that has been established by, frankly, pretty extreme members of the Republican Party,” Morelle said. Or if “they’re going to represent the interests of people in their communities that are much more moderate.”
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Several other federal and state cases are making their way through the judicial system, putting abortion at the forefront of people's minds, particularly those living in states where courts are reviewing whether abortion is protected in the state constitution, such as in Wyoming and Oklahoma.
Voters in other states are also taking abortion access into their own hands. In Ohio, pro-abortion rights advocates are preparing for a statewide effort to collect enough votes to put abortion access on the ballot this November. Organizers have until July to submit 413,000 signatures, with organizers hoping to gather over 700,000.