The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) is concentrating on races in states where abortion is on the ballot in 2024.
In a memo on Friday, first obtained by Politico, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) mentioned obtained by Politico, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) noted the multiple states in the U.S. that either will have measures in favor of abortion rights on the ballot in November or those that have movements to get those measures on the ballot currently in progress. These states include New York, Florida and Colorado.
“This further ensures that reproductive freedom will continue to be a key issue for voters this November, holding vulnerable House Republicans and GOP candidates accountable for their anti-abortion and anti-freedom stances,” the DCCC said in the memo. “The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee will make sure that House Republicans’ attempts to ban abortion nationwide are at the forefront as voters go to the polls to safeguard their reproductive rights.”
The memo also mentioned 18 congressional districts that are part of the organization’s “offensive and defensive battleground” and are located in states where an abortion ballot initiative is present or likely for election day. These districts include those currently represented by Republican House members such as Reps. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.), Nick LaLota (R-N.Y.) and Don Bacon (R-Neb.).
“Vulnerable House Republicans have tried to avoid responsibility by claiming that abortion is now a ‘states issue,’” the memo continues. “This empty rhetoric contradicts their efforts to make abortion care a crime at the national level. In the 118th Congress, House Republicans have passed four bills that would limit access to reproductive care nationwide and introduced an additional six anti-abortion bills – including two total national abortion bans.”
In 2022, voters in states including California, Michigan and Vermont approved ballot measures that enshrined abortion rights in their state constitutions. On the same day, voters in the right-leaning states of Kentucky and Montana turned down measures that would’ve limited reproductive care accessibility. Late last year, Ohioans voted in favor of a measure to enshrine abortion protections in the Buckeye State’s Constitution.
Will Reinert, the National press secretary for the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), the campaign arm of House Republicans, said in an emailed statement to The Hill that “[a] top non-partisan election analyst just dumped cold water on the DCCC’s pipe dream that ballot initiatives will be a ‘silver bullet’ for overcoming extreme House Democrats’ dangerous open-border, pro-crime and pro-inflation policies.”
Reinert’s statement also linked to a Cook Political Report analysis on whether pro-abortion rights measures will help Democrats in the upcoming 2024 elections.
