The Democratic Governors Association launched a huge new fund targeting midterm races in states where pro-abortion rights governors will have the largest impact on abortion rights.
The DGA hopes to raise $10 million for the new fund and said the money would go toward electing pro-abortion rights governors in states where abortion rights are at risk, such as Arizona, Florida, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Wisconsin. All of the states have either GOP-led legislatures that have passed anti-abortion legislation recently blocked by a Democratic governor or have been listed by the Guttmacher Institute as “certain or likely to ban abortion.”
The fund will be chaired by New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, who said she and other Democratic governors knew they had to spring into action following a leaked version of the Roe ruling in May, which became a reality at the end of June.
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“We can look to Washington for leadership, that’s important, but also the power does rest with the states,” Hochul, New York’s first female governor, told ABC News. “And we’ve known all along that we are the ones who are the firewall between what the Supreme Court does and doing what we can to protect the rights of our women.”
The move is part of a broader push by the Democratic Party to use the polarizing Roe v. Wade reversal late last month to energize its base ahead of the November elections.
In New York, Hochul has taken a series of steps that would expand access to abortions, including allocating $35 million to providers, not only to help women and girls in New York but also to prepare for the influx of people who may travel to the state looking for services after their states ban the procedure.
In Pennsylvania, the legality of abortion could change depending on which gubernatorial candidate wins the general election in November. The state’s current governor, Tom Wolf, a Democrat, is not seeking reelection. Instead, Democratic state Attorney General Josh Shapiro and Republican state Sen. Doug Mastriano will duke it out, with the victor shaping a post-Roe landscape.
Shapiro has been a staunch abortion rights advocate since getting into politics two decades ago. During his four terms in the state House, he voted against bills restricting abortion access. The first bill Mastriano introduced in the state legislature would have banned abortion about six weeks into pregnancy and was considered one of the most far-reaching proposals ever introduced in the state.
Republicans currently control both chambers of the Pennsylvania Legislature. If the GOP holds on during the midterm elections, the next governor is likely to see legislation that restricts abortion on their desk.
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In April, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who is up for reelection, filed a lawsuit in support of abortion rights under the state’s constitution. Her most competitive Republican rival, Tudor Dixon, is fiercely anti-abortion.
Like Pennsylvania, Republicans control the state legislature in Michigan and want to enforce a 1931 abortion ban. The candidate who becomes governor will likely have the final say.
“Electing and reelecting Democratic governors is our best – and perhaps only – hope of protecting reproductive freedoms,” North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, the DGA chairman, said in a written statement. “This new fund allows Democrats to focus their investments where it matters the most.”
