Washington Post: Republican Candidates for Governor “Flee” From Their Records on Opposing Abortion Rights

Washington Post: Republican Candidates for Governor “Flee” From Their Records on Opposing Abortion Rights

A recent report from the Washington Post details how “several Republican gubernatorial candidates have released misleading ads that try to gloss over their past support for abortion restrictions,” including Mark Robinson in North Carolina, Kelly Ayotte in New Hampshire and Dave Reichert in Washington.

“Republicans running for governor like Mark Robinson, Kelly Ayotte, and Dave Reichert know their antiabortion records are too extreme and unpopular to run on, so they are running from them,” DGA States Press Secretary Emma O’Brien told the Washington Post. “Unfortunately for these Republicans, we have the receipts, and will make sure that voters in each of these states remember every time they voted for an abortion ban or outlined their plans to put themselves in front of women and their doctors.”

Read more key points from the Washington Post below:

• In the final stretch before Election Day, Republicans are ramping up efforts to distance themselves from the restrictive abortion positions that have defined their party since the 2022 overturning of Roe v. Wade — scrambling to soften, or appear to soften, their hard line positions.
• And several Republican gubernatorial candidates have released misleading ads that try to gloss over their past support for abortion restrictions and instead cast themselves as more moderate on the issue. Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson (R-N.C.) released a new ad claiming he supports the state’s current law — which bans nearly all abortions after 12 weeks — because of his and his wife’s “very difficult decision” three decades ago to have an abortion.
• “When I’m governor, mothers in need will be supported,” he says in the ad.
• But his previous statements have gone much further than the state’s existing law, including saying he preferred “a six-week bill” — which would ban abortion before most women know they’re pregnant — and describing abortion as “killing the child because you weren’t responsible enough to keep your skirt down.”
• Though portions of the Republican base staunchly oppose reproductive rights, polls show that a majority of the country favors them. An August Washington Post-ABC News poll found that 62 percent of Americans opposed the overturning of Roe, while 35 percent supported it. A Pew Research Center poll from earlier this year found that 63 percent of Americans thought abortion should be legal in all or most cases. And two recent Fox News polls show 50 percent of Arizona Republicans plan to vote for their state’s abortion rights amendment in November, while 54 percent of Nevada Republicans will do the same in their state.
• In addition to North Carolina, the Republican gubernatorial candidates in several other key battleground states are also pushing back on the idea that they previously supported significant abortion restrictions. In New Hampshire, former Republican senator Kelly Ayotte released an ad claiming that her opponents’ attacks on some of her past abortion positions — including her 2015 vote on a national 20-week abortion ban and her calls for the overturning of Roe — were unfairly “politicizing abortion to win votes.”
• And in Washington State, Republican gubernatorial candidate and former House member Dave Reichert released a direct-to-camera ad, saying he would not change his state’s abortion laws and stating, “I do not believe any politician, regardless of personal belief, has the right to make that decision for any woman.”
• However, in Congress, Reichert supported a national 20-week abortion ban, repeatedly voted to ban federal funding for Planned Parenthood and had an 83 percent approval rating from the National Right to Life Committee, a leading antiabortion organization.

###