Dem
51
GOP
49
There are at least seven Latina Democrats running for Congress. All of them are going to make a woman's right to an abortion the centerpiece of their campaigns. Even though most Latinas are Catholics and the Catholic Church is not keen on abortions, all of them see this as a winning issue and will push it for all it is worth.
Most of the Latinas are running for the House, but former representative Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, an immigrant from Ecuador, is running for the Senate against Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL). While she is not widely known in Florida, there are many Latinos in Florida, so that is a bloc she will target heavily.
BOLD PAC, the campaign arm of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, plans to "lean in very hard" on this issue in 2024. The executive director, Victoria McGroary, said: "We know that we are on the right side of the argument. We know that voters hate the Republican position and that it is key to our path to victory." Among all Latinos, 57% say that abortion should be legal in most or all cases. Among young Latinos, it is 72%. A poll of eight key states done by UnidosUS, a Latino civil rights organization, found that 71% of Latinos opposed efforts to make abortion illegal. Even Latinos who are relatively conservative think that the decision to have an abortion should be made by the pregnant woman, not by politicians. Latinos have been slowly drifting away from the Democrats, but McGroary thinks this issue may bring them back.
Activists in Arizona, Florida, and seven other states are trying to get initiatives on the ballot in 2024; these initiatives would offer an up-or-down vote on abortion. In New York and Maryland, such initiatives have already been approved. The Democrats' hope is that some marginal voters will turn out just to vote on the initiative and while they are there, they will vote for Democrats who are pro-choice.
Last month, a Texas woman named Kate Cox tried to get an abortion when she learned her fetus had a fatal genetic disease and would not survive long, if at all. She went to court in Texas and lost. Now she is going to be the poster child (woman?) for abortion rights. We wouldn't be surprised if she turned up in a few TV ads later this year. First-person testimony makes for powerful ads. Will this be the magic bullet for Latina candidates? They sure hope so. The only fly in the ointment is that these ballot measures also drive up turnout on the other side. (V)