Democrat Marilyn Lands won a state House special in deep red Alabama by making reproductive rights the center of her campaign.
Lands, a licensed professional counselor who lost her 2022 bid for the Huntsville-area seat by nearly 7 points, opposes the state’s near-total ban on abortion and openly discussed the abortion she had more than 20 years ago after her fetus tested positive for a rare genetic condition.
Her opponent, Republican Teddy Powell, a two-term Madison City councilman, avoided discussing abortion rights and focused his campaign on economic development, infrastructure and education funding. Powell described himself as “pro-life” but said he might be open to considering legislation to add exceptions for rape and incest to Alabama’s abortion ban.
With 99% of the vote in, Lands is leading 62%-37% in a district that was +1 for Trump in 2020.
No matter how much the media and Republicans pretend otherwise, reproductive rights are a very important issue to voters. Alabama is one of the states that imposed an extreme abortion ban after Dobbs, and the state supreme court set off a national firestorm when it banned IVF.
Reproductive rights is a powerful issue. Alabama is by no means a swing state, but Democrats have demonstrated that they can win special elections, even in deep red states, when reproductive rights are on the ballot.
Republicans have a reproductive rights problem and it isn’t going away in November.
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