Fresh off her Kansas victory, Rachel Sweet heads to Kentucky to fight an antiabortion ballot measure
Kansas voters surprised everyone when they overwhelmingly rejected an antiabortion ballot measure earlier this month.
Now Rachel Sweet, the campaign manager behind that abortion rights victory in Kansas, has been hired to lead a similar effort in Kentucky, The Health 202 has learned.
Sweet is fresh off her victory in Kansas, where nearly 59 percent of voters in the conservative state defeated an attempt to strip abortion protections from the state constitution. While several states have abortion measures on the ballot in November, Kentucky is the only one where residents will weigh in on a similar measure to explicitly state that nothing in the state constitution creates a right to an abortion.
“We were looking at Kansas as a sort of bellwether for how things could potentially go here in Kentucky,” said Heather Ayer, the campaign coordinator for American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky.
A coalition of groups supporting abortion rights — such as ACLU Kentucky and Planned Parenthood — are opposing the constitutional amendment in Kentucky. The coalition group, called Protect Kentucky Access, recently hired Sweet. She began her new gig leading the Kentucky effort Monday, which hasn’t been previously reported.
Next big fight — There’s institutional expertise behind both state campaigns. Mission Control, a direct mail firm working in Democratic politics and on ballot measures, helped with the Kansas campaign and is serving as general consultants to the Kentucky campaign too.
In Kansas, the campaign settled on messaging that it believed appealed to voters across the political spectrum, as well as to those with complex views on abortion. That included focusing on the freedom of Americans to make their own health-care decisions.
But that doesn’t mean the Kentucky effort will follow the same playbook. The campaign will tailor its strategies based on research into what messages may be effective to voters in the red state.
“I think it’s important to acknowledge that Kansas and Kentucky are different places, and what works in one state might not work in another,” Sweet said. “I think one of the reasons we were able to be so successful in Kansas is that we listened to our voters.”
The other side — The wide vote margin in Kansas sent shock waves through the antiabortion movement. In Kentucky, the campaign supporting the constitutional amendment is called Yes for Life, and consists of groups like the Kentucky Right to Life, Kentucky Baptist Convention and the Catholic Conference of Kentucky.
“The margins were ridiculous [in Kansas],” said Todd Gray, the executive director and treasurer of the Kentucky Baptist Convention. “So that’s concerning I think for anyone who wants to see life defended.”
But what does that mean for Kentucky? Addia Wuchner, who chairs the Yes for Life alliance, said she had a conversation with her counterparts in Kansas the day after the amendment’s defeat to help determine if the Kentucky campaign should make any modifications.
“We’re analyzing that now,” said Wuchner, who also serves as the executive director of the state’s Right to Life chapter. She added she feels confident in the measure being on the general ballot rather than the primary election, like in Kansas, and that the state’s ballot question is written more simply than in Kansas.
As of now, Kentucky has a near-total ban on abortion. Abortion rights groups filed a lawsuit against the ban days after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, arguing the state’s constitution protects the right to privacy and therefore, the right to access an abortion.
Abortion opponents want to ensure that no judge can rule that the constitution does indeed protect abortions, which would squash the state’s ability to restrict the procedure. The Kansas measure shows the importance of “leaving no stone unturned” when it comes to educating voters about the ballot measure, per Jason Hall, the executive director of the Catholic Conference of Kentucky.
“The message is that this is an opportunity to make a pro-life statement,” Hall said. “This is an opportunity to prevent a state level Roe v. Wade.”
Reproductive wars
Planned Parenthood launches historic midterm spending effort
Washington Post – Planned Parenthood’s advocacy and political organizations will spend $50 million on November’s midterm elections in an effort to elect abortion rights supporters nationwide, our colleague Amy B Wang writes.
The effort, which tops the group’s previous $45 million spending record set in 2020, comes about two months after the Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to abortion. It underscores how much reproductive rights advocates believe abortion will be a motivating issue for voters in the upcoming elections.
Planned Parenthood will initially focus on gubernatorial or down-ballot races in nine states where the outcome at the ballot box has the potential to upend abortion rights: Georgia, Nevada, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Arizona, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Michigan and Wisconsin. Many of those states also have competitive Senate races that could determine which party has control of the chamber.
The organization’s investments, launched under the program name Take Control, aim to reach up to 6 million voters and will take shape in the form of voter engagement, canvassing, phone and text banking, and advertising. The group will also launch organizing programs run by and for young people of color.
The Hill:
Tim Kaine’s role on abortion bill sparks progressive concerns
BY AMIE PARNES – 08/17/22
They see Kaine, who is personally opposes abortion, as too much of a centrist on the issue, and they argue the legislation he’s backing, which he says would codify the Roe v. Wade decision, doesn’t go nearly far enough.
Kaine introduced the legislation with centrist GOP Sens. Susan Collins (Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and fellow Democratic centrist Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.). Democratic critics say the bill would actually fall short of codifying Roe v. Wade.
“After Kansas, the idea that a pro-life white male senator has emerged as the face of the Democratic response by pushing legislation that falls far short of codifying Roe and still has no chance of passing is just impossible to justify,” said one Democratic operative. “It would be one thing if he were actually able to move legislation, but everyone knows he can’t, and it’s an extreme example of how inept Democrats are at offense.”
One Senate chief of staff was also miffed about Kaine’s leading role in the legislation.
“Why the hell in a moment when the country is actually paying attention to this, when we’re winning ballot initiatives, do you want to take the wind out of the sails?” the chief of staff said. “Why is this guy the face of this? It’s bananas, really.”
Murkowski and Collins are likely the only GOP senators who would support the measure, meaning it would not have the 60 votes necessary to overcome a filibuster. If Democrats can add a few senators to their ranks, some think it might be possible to go much further to protect abortion rights — if 50 Democrats can agree to change the filibuster rules to do so.
The bill backed by Kaine, who was the Democratic vice presidential nominee in 2016, would protect the right to an abortion until the fetus can survive outside the womb. That would generally provide protection for abortion rights up to 24 weeks. The bill would also provide access to contraception.
Critics say that doesn’t go far enough.
“The Kaine-Collins bill does not codify Roe,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) told NBC News earlier this month. “The problem here is this bill is not an obvious improvement over where we stand right now.”
After the legislation was introduced, NARAL Pro-Choice America called it “just another political stunt.”
Kaine, who is Catholic, argues he and his allies are in a better position to pass the legislation because of the GOP support.
“As soon as you say, ‘Why do something bipartisan?’ That’s like giving up,” Kaine told Politico earlier this month. “That’s like giving up. … And we can’t give up.”
Aides to Kaine would not comment on his role on the legislation or the opposition to it.
Democrats have sought to step up their messaging on abortion rights ahead of the midterms, believing the issue can turn out their grassroots.
The White House has been slammed by progressives for not doing enough to go on the offensive on the issue, especially after a leak in May that hinted the decision was forthcoming.
Since the decision, Vice President Harris has taken on the issue, traveling the country and speaking on it in addition to meeting with groups to discuss women’s rights.
Some Democratic strategists say it makes sense for Kaine to become the upper chamber’s top advocate on the issue, comparing it to centrist Sen. Joe Manchin’s (D-W.Va.) involvement in the climate legislation.
“It’s realistic,” said one Democratic strategist. “You don’t want to be represented by the extreme base. You want to be represented by the middle, who are closer to the median voter on abortion than someone like [Rep.] Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez [D-N.Y.].”
“This is the most realistic way to win the conversation,” the strategist said. “You have the conversation in the middle.”
But the Senate chief of staff and others say it’s a messaging failure for Democrats.
“We lost this fight … but, Jesus, don’t make it worse,” he said. “The politics of this are f—— nuts.”
FLORIDA-DeSantis sued by prosecutor suspended over stance on abortion-related crime
By Kim Bellware and Lateshia Beachum
Washington Post — August 17, 2022
A Florida prosecutor has sued Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) in a bid to be reinstated after he was dismissed from his post for pledging he would not prosecute cases stemming from Florida’s 15-week abortion ban and potential bans on gender-affirming care.
Hillsborough County State Attorney Andrew Warren (D) argued his Aug. 4 suspension was unlawful on First Amendment grounds and characterized his removal as “retaliation” by DeSantis against a critic and political rival, according to a federal complaint filed Wednesday in the Northern District of Florida. [DeSantis suspends elected Democratic prosecutor who signed pledge on abortion cases] In a video message, Warren said that in addition to violating his free speech rights, DeSantis broke Florida law.
“He’s violated the Florida Constitution by removing me from office without any legal justification, throwing out the results of a fair and free election,” Warren said.
DeSantis’s office dismissed Warren’s federal complaint as “baseless.” “It’s not surprising Warren, who was suspended for refusing to follow the law, would file a legally baseless lawsuit challenging his suspension. We look forward to responding in court,” a spokesperson for DeSantis said in a statement.
Warren has been in office since 2016 and was reelected in 2020 with more than 53 percent of the vote. DeSantis suspending Warren and replacing him with a person of his choosing sets a concerning tone for democracy in Florida, Louis Virelli, professor of law at Stetson University College of Law, told The Washington Post.
“A small step from here is if I, as governor, don’t think a state attorney is being hard enough on a particular crime, I’m going to replace you with a person I prefer,” Virelli said. “It’s overriding voters’ choice.”
Virelli said the complaint is one of the few options available to Warren if he wants to keep his job.
Part of Warren’s argument in the complaint is that the Florida Constitution limits removal to true incompetence or inability to do the work and violation of a legal obligation. “Warren is being punished for what he said and not what he did,” Virelli said.
Shortly after Warren’s suspension, his office’s chief communications officer was told she had to resign and be paid through the month — or be fired on the spot.
Melanie Snow-Waxler, who started her role in the state attorney’s office in May, was terminated Aug. 12. “This illegal firing is part of a troubling pattern of retaliation,” her attorney, Ryan Barack, said in a statement this week.
DeSantis and Warren are ideological opposites who have publicly sparred over topics like abortion, covid restrictions, and criminal justice and transgender rights.
In June, the day that the Dobbs v. Jackson ruling was handed down, effectively ending the federal right to abortion access, Warren joined dozens of prosecutors around the country in signing a pledge that they would “refrain from using limited criminal legal system resources to criminalize personal medical decisions.”
In 2021, Warren signed a similar joint statement with other elected prosecutors affirming that health-care decisions should be “private discretion” and said they would not use their office to “promote the criminalization of gender-affirming health care or transgender people.”
DeSantis’s administration has pursued aggressive policies to increasingly restrict medical treatments like puberty blockers and hormone therapy; just last week, the state barred people from using Medicare coverage to help pay for gender-affirming care.
Since Warren’s suspension, he and DeSantis have disagreed over the nature of the suspension. While Warren characterized his suspension as “temporary” in his filing, DeSantis’s office has said Warren is no longer the state attorney for the 13th Judicial Circuit in Hillsborough County after the governor appointed Susan Lopez, a Republican judge who backed Warren’s opponent in 2016.
I was born in Virginia, and my daddy taught me how to treat ladies: defending their lives as well as their honor. I learned, when I was older, that the reason women do not belong on a battlefield is because they face their share of deadly danger in childbed. There has been a lot of History since then, during which women, with an appetite for risk that puts many self-styled men to shame, have chosen the battlefield, have chosen the Asphalt Jungle as first responders, have chosen the halls of government (remember Jan. 6?), and more. If Virginia Law does indeed restrict their choices in childbed, which even today is hardly free of risk, then I have a concern that there are no longer any Southern Gentlemen left in Virginia.