CHICAGO — In the first presidential cycle since the reversal of Roe v. Wade, Democrats believe their pursuit to reinstate the constitutional right to abortion access will counteract the Biden administration’s previous blunders at the border in the November election.
Throughout the week at the Democratic National Convention, organizers featured women sharing their stories about how abortion bans across the country affected them, raising the stakes of the looming election.
Democratic leaders at state delegation breakfast meetings, caucus gatherings, and onstage at the United Center framed the narrative over abortion as a fundamental “freedom” women should have to control their bodies, not just a healthcare need in an emergency.
They also attempted to flip the script on one of their largest political vulnerabilities: attacks on immigration, as Former President Donald Trump and Republicans continue to cite record levels of illegal border crossings under the Biden administration.
Speakers and Vice President Kamala Harris herself sought to blunt that criticism, embracing a bipartisan compromise bill that Sens. James Lankford (R-OK), Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ), and Chris Murphy (D-CT) and officials from the White House put together in February, but ultimately died under political pressure from Trump.
“Last year, Joe and I brought together Democrats and conservative Republicans to write the strongest border bill in decades. The Border Patrol endorsed it, but Donald Trump believes a border deal would hurt his campaign,” Harris said in her nomination acceptance speech Thursday. “So he ordered his allies in Congress to kill the deal.”
As Harris accepted the Democratic nomination, Trump traveled to the border in Arizona on Thursday, casting Harris as responsible for the rise in illegal migration during Biden’s presidency, calling her a “failed border czar.” The Democratic presidential nominee recently visited the Grand Canyon State for a speech in Glendale last week but did not travel to the southern part of the state that shares a border with Mexico.
Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ), a key border-state lawmaker, suggested that Democrats’ abortion messaging is more of a winning issue that resonates with voters rather than a photo op at the southern border.
“The issue of the border in Arizona is, you know, a significant issue,” Kelly said, speaking to the Washington Examiner, following a Georgia delegation breakfast meeting on Wednesday.
“But, I kind of think that this — we’ve got reproductive rights on the ballot in Arizona as well. Donald Trump took these rights away from women in Arizona, and we have swung back and forth between one abortion ban and another and women are fed up,” Kelly said.
WHERE ABORTION BALLOT MEASURES STAND IN DIFFERENT STATES
At least six states, including Arizona, will vote on proposed constitutional amendments to enshrine abortion rights into their state constitutions in November. The topic is top of mind for Democrats and activists there after the state’s Supreme Court voted to uphold a 160-year-old near-total abortion ban that provided no exceptions for rape or incest and allowed abortions only if the mother’s life is in jeopardy this past April. State lawmakers later repealed the bill later in the month, putting back in place a 2022 law in the state that restricted most abortions after 15 weeks gestation.
DNC delegates throughout the week, speaking to the Washington Examiner, said in a post-Roe landscape, the issue is a top concern when they head to the polls.
Pierna Ana Sanchez, a New York City councilwoman and delegate, is pregnant with her second child and said reproductive rights are a top concern for her when she heads to the polls.
“This is my second child, and pregnancy is not easy. It’s complicated. Your body isn’t yours for 10 months, your health is not your own. You know things can happen,” Sanchez said. “You need the ability to choose that — that is what you want in that moment in your life, that you want to expand your family, that you know are going to weather the risks of going through a pregnancy.”
“To take that away from a woman, to rip that away from a woman, as the Supreme Court has done, as has been done under the Trump presidency, that is unacceptable,” she said.
Immigration and the border are not typically a trop mobilizing issue for the Democratic base. However, this cycle, Democrats are shifting their immigration policy to the right, reflecting how public opinion has changed on immigration and concerns over how to secure the border.
The convention struck a different tone with speakers endorsing tougher policies for asylum seekers and praised Biden’s role in helping negotiate the bipartisan border bill. This year, there was far less criticism of Trump-era policies when it comes to immigration, particularly after the current administration has been forced to rethink their strategy.
The number of unlawful crossings has fallen for five consecutive months. Some have credited an executive order Biden put into place that will temporarily shut down asylum requests once the average number of daily encounters tops 2,500 between ports of entry. The move resembles a similar border restriction the Trump administration attempted to put into place in 2018.
Arizona Delegate and former member of the state legislature, Daniel Hernandez, praised how Harris has spoken about the border so far in her campaign.
“As a former border state representative, I can tell you, people are tired of people just fighting and showing up two or four years at a time to take photos in front of the border,” Hernandez explained in an interview with the Washington Examiner. “They want solutions. That’s what Kamala Harris has been talking about. And hopefully, when we elect a Democratic Congress in the House and hopefully keep the Senate, she’ll have the partners she needs in Congress to actually get that bill done.”
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Sharonda Huffman, a delegate from Maryland, said she sees the topic of abortion and the border as equally important to voters this cycle.
“I think they’re both important issues. And I want to emphasize that there was a bill that could have been passed, but Donald Trump is the person who said, don’t pass that bill,” Huffman said. “He is not good for the United States. So I believe we can walk and chew gum. We can talk about rights of women and their healthcare as well as our national security and border control. So I think they’re both important issues.”
