On the one-year anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, 61% of voters remain opposed to the court removing the national right to abortion, according to a new national NBC News poll.
That includes nearly 80% of female voters ages 18-49, two-thirds of suburban women, 60% of independents and even a third of Republican voters who say they disapprove.
Philip Bump: Most Americans think overturning Roe was bad for the country.
While the Republican presidential field dances around the issue of abortion, Mike Pence is embracing further restrictions on the procedure, Politico reports.
Pence said he would do “everything in my power” to reverse approval of abortion pills and insisted Republicans suffered losses in the 2022 midterms not because of the Dobbs decision but because certain candidates were “focused on relitigating the past.”
The Washington Post notes the GOP lacks a consistent message on Abortion heading into the 2024 campaign.
Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb (R) endorsed Mike Pence for president in 2024.
“The polling looks favorable. The petition-gathering is strong,” The Messenger reports.
“Now the Florida effort to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution is launching a non-partisan group to ensure that the amendment gets on the Nov. 5, 2024, ballot and that it passes by the required 60 percent threshold — if they can keep enough Republican support.”
“The proposed amendment will be one of the most closely watched in the nation if it shares the ballot with one of two anti-abortion Florida Republicans running to take on President Joe Biden: former President Donald Trump or Gov. Ron DeSantis, who signed a six-week abortion ban – one of the strictest nationwide – earlier this year that triggered this amendment.”
Politico: “DeSantis sidestepped that part of the question and instead said Trump was ‘full of it’ for criticizing how DeSantis responded to the Covid-19 pandemic.”
Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) “is considering a late entry into the Republican presidential primary race, a move that would make him the latest high-profile Florida Republican to try to wrest the nomination from Donald Trump,” the New York Times reports.
“Should he enter the race, Mr. Scott, Florida’s former governor, would be challenging both the front-runner, Mr. Trump, as well as the distant-second rival, Ron DeSantis, the state’s current governor. Mr. Scott would also join Mr. Trump, Mr. DeSantis and Mayor Francis X. Suarez of Miami as the fourth Republican presidential candidate from Florida.”
Playbook: “If he does jump into the presidential race, the campaign for his Senate seat would be upended, too.”
Former Rep. Will Hurd (R-TX) became the latest Republican to throw their hat in the ring for the 2024 GOP race for president, The Hill reports. He made the announcement on CBS News.
Former Rep. Will Hurd (R-TX), the newest Republican 2024 contender, told CNN he won’t sign the RNC pledge to support the eventual nominee. Said Hurd: “I’m not going to support Donald Trump,”
“Asked if Trump betrayed the nation if the allegations against him are true, he says, ‘100% he did.’”
Jonathan Last: “Here is the hard-headed reality: I suspect that if you gave Will Hurd truth serum and asked him about what he’s saying about Biden and Democrats he’d tell you, Hey man, I’m running for president. You can’t win the Republican nomination by making reasonable distinctions and talking about nuance. A campaign isn’t about epistemological truth. It’s about politics.”
“And fair enough. Except for one fact: Will Hurd isn’t going to win this campaign. I’m sorry, but it’s just truth. I’ll be shocked if he breaks double-digits and mildly surprised if he gets to 7 percent in any national poll this cycle.”
“It is one thing to abandon principle and start fudging around the edges if that’s the compromise that has to be made so that you can win and make things better in the aggregate.”
“But Will Hurd isn’t going to win. He’s going to get 2 percent. And if he gets his 2 percent by being dishonest, then he’ll actually be contributing to the toxicity of our politics.”
FiveThirtyEight: “When the Supreme Court overturned the federal right to abortion, between 50 and 60 percent of Americans wanted the right to stay in place. But while abortion was legal throughout the country up to a certain point in pregnancy, Americans had the luxury of not having strong or cohesive views on the topic, or thinking much about abortion at all. Their views were messy and sometimes contradictory, and there was little evidence suggesting that the issue was a political priority for anyone except Christian conservatives. In the fall of 2021, with the Dobbs case looming on the horizon, many Americans thought that Roe wasn’t in real danger.”
“Now, a FiveThirtyEight analysis finds that after one of the most disruptive Supreme Court decisions in generations, many Americans — including women, young people, and Democrats — are reporting more liberal views on abortion than major pollsters have seen in years. Even conservatives, although the changes are slight, are increasingly supportive of abortion rights.”
“There are other signs that longstanding views are shifting: For instance, Americans are more open to the idea of unrestricted third-trimester abortion than they were even a year ago. And although it’s hard to predict what will shape upcoming elections, there are indications that abortion has the potential to be a major motivator for some Americans when they go to vote in 2024.”
Politico: “No Labels’ bid to run a third party presidential candidate in 2024 has sparked a number of questions about political motivations. Chief among them: Who, exactly, is paying for this thing?”
9The centrist group consists of a constellation of entities, some of which disclose donor names. But the main one is a nonprofit which, unlike political parties, does not have to reveal the names of its funders. And in an interview with Politico, its CEO, Nancy Jacobson, declined to do so, saying simply that it was a ‘mixed’ pool of individual contributors including “people that want to help our country.”
Politico on Democrats’ thoughts about Joe Manchin: “Many are skeptical he’ll mount a third-party White House bid. They also fear it could hand the GOP both the Senate and the White House if he does.”
Joe Klein: “No Labels is now promoting a Third Party strategy in the 2024 presidential campaign, which may be the most nefarious electoral ploy since the Russians secretly worked to support Green Party candidate Jill Stein in 2016. According to Tara Palmeri in Puck, No Labels is raising $70 million to launch this effort. It plans a nominating convention next April in Dallas.”
“The rhetoric is as attractive as ever: We’re in a political rut. We need a fresh wind, a new political alignment. It’s time for the real American majority—the non-extremists—to throw their weight. It’s time for Sanity to prevail…yes, you’ve heard a lot of the same sort of rhetoric from me (but also a deep appreciation. of the job that Joe Biden has done as a moderate President, which is never acknowledged by No Labels).”
“I believe the No Labels campaign is shady, and quite possibly a false flag operation backed by Republican billionaires. If it succeeds, the result will be the same as it was in 2016: Donald Trump will win.”
“Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie on Thursday said former President Trump ‘can’t avoid’ the GOP presidential debates as he runs for the White House in 2024,” The Hill reports. Said Christie: “Trump says he doesn’t ‘think it’s fair’ for him to have to debate. Crybabies and losers say life isn’t fair. And Trump is both. Want to be President? Then get in the ring pal…”
Chris Christie is the only major GOP presidential candidate to tell The Daily Caller that he wouldn’t fire FBI Director Christopher Wray. Everyone else either vows to do so or says they’re open to it.
New York Times: “Since announcing his campaign two weeks ago, Mr. Christie has had a modest lift in early public polls of likely Republican primary voters in New Hampshire, nudging into third place, though still far behind Mr. Trump, the front-runner.”
“At the same time, Mr. Christie, who has positioned himself as Mr. Trump’s most direct critic, tops the list of 2024 candidates that Republicans say they will never consider.”
“As New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie prepared to run for president earlier this year, he canvassed some of Wall Street’s wealthiest donors about whether they would finance a $100 million effort to take on former President Donald Trump,“ CNBC reports.
“Since those calls, several business titans have piled cash into Christie’s young campaign for the Republican nomination, with one big exception: longtime Christie ally, Mets owner and hedge fund billionaire Steve Cohen”
LOL, no.
“Trump is in as formidable a position as any titular frontrunner for the nomination in my career… My sense is that if DeSantis or someone else can win in either Iowa or New Hampshire, that this race will change overnight… If Trump doesn’t lose either of those two, I think it’ll be almost impossible to stop him.”— GOP strategist Ralph Reed, in an interview with Politico.
“A local Indiana chapter of Moms for Liberty, a national conservative parents organization, apologized on Thursday for quoting Adolf Hitler in a newsletter,” NBC News reports.
“President Joe Biden has never hidden the fact that his Catholic roots can make it difficult to be a politician in favor of abortion rights. In fact, he still rarely uses the word ‘abortion’ at all,” Politico reports.
“But as the 2024 election comes into focus, Biden is poised to run the most overtly abortion rights platform of any general election candidate in political history as he and his team navigate the first presidential cycle in the post-Roe era.”
“The nation’s top abortion rights groups are expected to endorse President Joe Biden’s reelection bid at an event Friday in Washington,” Politico reports.
While Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) consistently stated she is not running for president, Mark Leibovich writes:
“Clearly, though, Whitmer was happy to go through the Kabuki of being interrogated over whether she might change her mind. She didn’t bother with the annoyance that many ambitious pols feel compelled to feign—it’s such a hassle—when asked whether they might give the ol’ presidency a look. She giggled at many of my questions. Whitmer seems to genuinely enjoy being a politician, even the ridiculous and absurd parts of it, such as this.”
Kari Lake, who is reportedly on former President Donald Trump’s shortlist for 2024 running mate, “practically lives” at his Mar-a-Lago resort and “is there every night,” People Magazine reports.
Said a source: “Kari Lake is there every night… She’s there all the time. There’s a suite there that she practically lives in.”
“The two leading GOP presidential contenders had very different interview experiences with Fox News in the past week — each an illustration of the influence that even a damaged Fox has over the Republican nominating process,” the AP reports.
“Their appearances alone are evidence that Fox, weakened financially by the $787 million settlement over defamation charges reached with Dominion Voting Systems and suffering in the ratings following Tucker Carlson’s firing, remains the media kingmaker for Republicans who want to be president.”
Of the 12 major Republican presidential candidates, half are people of color, Axios reports.
“It’s a historic turn for Republicans, who in recent years have made a point of trying to recruit more minorities for public office — and have made slight gains among minority voters in recent elections.”
California Gov. Gavin Newsom says there’s no chance “on God’s green earth” he’s running for president in 2024, but he wants to make clear that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is running, is “weak” and “undisciplined” and “will be crushed by Donald Trump,” the AP reports.
Politico on Team Biden warming to Gavin Newsom: “After some skepticism and mistrust of the younger governor, the president and his political orbit have found a loyal soldier in California.”
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