Democrats are talking about abortion on the campaign trail again

By Arit John, Eva McKend, CNN

(CNN) — Virginia’s race for governor has been dominated by economic issues, the government shutdown and the violent text messages sent by the Democratic candidate for attorney general.

But during their only debate this month, Democrat Abigail Spanberger pressed her Republican opponent, Winsome Earle-Sears, over a topic that once dominated Democratic politics: abortion rights.

“In states where they further restricted abortion access, women have died,” Spanberger said. “If my opponent were to become governor, that is what she would inflict upon Virginia.”

In the final weeks of the off-year elections that will set the tone for the 2026 midterms, Democrats are attempting to strike a balance between the party’s current emphasis on affordability and its longtime focus on abortion rights, an issue party strategists credit for helping Democrats in the 2022 midterms but did not have the same resonance in last year’s presidential election.

In Virginia and New Jersey, statewide candidates are highlighting their Republican opponents’ past anti-abortion comments. In Pennsylvania, where three state Supreme Court justices are facing a retention vote, Democrats are pointing to abortion as one of the issues at stake. And in California, Planned Parenthood and Reproductive Freedom for All are part of the coalition backing a ballot initiative to enact a Democratic gerrymander in response to Republican mid-cycle redistricting.

“There’s been a lot of armchair politics talk from so-called pundits about whether or not the party is talking too much about social issues, not about economic issues,” said Mini Timmaraju, the president of Reproductive Freedom for All, which is investing $5 million into 2025 races. “We’re not seeing it that way, and I don’t think any candidates who are actually running see it that way either.”

If Virginia Democrats maintain control of the House of Delegates this year — the state Senate is not up for election — they will aim to create a ballot measure next year enshrining abortion rights into the state Constitution.

The question is whether Republicans will be able to neutralize the issue to the extent Donald Trump did during his race against Kamala Harris. The president, who appointed three of the Supreme Court justices who struck Roe v. Wade, said during the 2024 campaign that he would leave abortion policy “to the states.”

“If there were more single-issue, pro-choice voters, Kamala Harris would be president and the Democrats would control the Senate and the House,” said Mike DuHaime, a Republican strategist who previously worked with former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.

Since taking office, Trump stopped Medicaid funding from going to Planned Parenthood and federal health regulators have opened a study into the safety of the abortion drug mifepristone, raising concerns among abortion-rights advocates that the US might impose new limits on drugs used by women in states that ban or sharply restrict abortion.

Those advocates say there’s still an opportunity to contrast the positions of the two parties.

“It would be a mistake to learn the wrong lessons of 2024,” said Fatima Goss Graves, president of the National Women’s Law Center Action Fund.

Democrats talk about abortion rights and affordability

Spanberger has spent most of her campaign running on affordability, including her plans to reduce health care, housing and energy costs.

But of the $11 million she’s spent on TV ads this year, $1.1 million has gone toward ads in the last 30 days on Earle-Sears’ abortion stance, according to data from media tracking firm AdImpact.

In a new digital ad for Spanberger, former President Barack Obama ties the race to abortion, saying Republicans “will keep attacking abortion rights and the rights of women.”

Spanberger’s campaign said in a statement that her “focus remains on addressing” voters’ concerns over high costs and the impact of funding cuts enacted by the Trump administration.

“But as we approach the first Virginia gubernatorial election since the fall of Roe, it’s also important for Virginians to know that Winsome Earle-Sears has a long record of opposing reproductive rights for Virginia women,” the statement reads.

A recent Christopher Newport University poll found that abortion was not a top issue for voters, whose top three priorities were threats to democracy, inflation and immigration. But voters said they trusted Spanberger on reproductive rights issues over Earle-Sears by a 20-point margin. Spanberger led Earle-Sears by 10 percentage points in the poll.

Spanberger’s running mates have also leaned into abortion as a campaign issue against their opponents, who have backed restricting access.

“It’s not solely about abortion,” said Virginia Democratic Party Chair Lamont Bagby. “It’s about protecting Virginian rights.”

Jay Jones, the Democratic attorney general candidate facing condemnation over texts in which he fantasized about the shooting of a legislative colleague, is running an ad featuring a woman who had an abortion. His ad aims to portray Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares, who is seeking reelection, as an “anti-abortion extremist.”

Ghazala Hashmi, the Democratic candidate for Virginia lieutenant governor, has spoken on the campaign trail about difficult pregnancies she experienced, including two that resulted in miscarriages.

“That’s the right that we are trying to protect for all women, given the complexity and the very, very personal nature of medical care,” Hashmi, a Virginia state senator, told CNN.

Republicans try to neutralize abortion access as an issue

Both Earle-Sears and New Jersey’s Republican gubernatorial candidate, Jack Ciattarelli — who is running a competitive race against Democrat Mikie Sherrill — have tried to downplay abortion. A spokesperson for Earle-Sears’ campaign said her comments at the gubernatorial debate earlier this month reflect her view on the issue.

“My position is that the commonwealth needs to come together and figure out where it wants to be,” Earle-Sears said this month. “It’s not going to be my view. It’s going to be a view of the majority.”

Ciattarelli has said he supports a woman’s right to choose, though he has voted in the past to limit funding to Planned Parenthood.

Virginia is the only Southern state that has not restricted abortion rights since Roe v. Wade was overturned. In 2023, Gov. Glenn Youngkin hoped to win complete Republican control of the state legislature by boosting candidates running on a 15-week abortion restriction, which he described as a compromise. Instead, Democrats maintained control of the state Senate and flipped the GOP-held House of Delegates.

Miyares, Virginia’s attorney general, said he backs exceptions to abortion bans in the case of rape or incest or when the life of the mother is at risk.

“Virginia voters will decide this issue directly next year, and Attorney General Miyares will enforce the law they impose, dispassionately and faithfully, as he always has,” a campaign spokesperson said in statement.

John Reid, Hashmi’s opponent for Virginia lieutenant governor, suggested on a recent podcast appearance that the state was at risk of becoming a destination for “abortion tourism.”

Reid said in a statement that he would want to debate Hashmi on abortion and other issues.

“I would enjoy the opportunity to join Ghazala on the debate stage to discuss the troubling reality that Virginia’s laws have made it an outlier in the region,” he wrote, adding he wants to focus on expanding support for women’s health care and young families.

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