7 months ago
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Marilyn Lands’s surprise victory suggests reproductive rights are key issue for voters ahead of Biden-Trump rematch in November
Good morning, US politics blog readers. Last night, Democrats in Alabama did something they do not often do in the deeply conservative state: win a seat in the state house of representatives back from the GOP. And how they did it may be a sign of what we can expect to work with voters nationwide as Joe Biden stumps for a second term while trying to gain complete control of Congress in November. In the case of Alabama, the Democrat Marilyn Lands campaigned on repealing Alabama’s strict abortion ban and fully restoring access to in vitro fertilization, the fertility treatment that the Alabama supreme court briefly outlawed last month. Lands lost the race for the seat in the swing district just two years ago, but in last night’s special election triumphed with a more than 25% margin over the Republican candidate.
Why does this all matter? For Democrats, it’s the latest sign that voters remain uncomfortable with the implications of the supreme court’s 2022 decision overturning Roe v Wade, and those objections can be harnessed to make inroads even in the most inhospitable terrain, like Alabama. Whether Biden and his allies can repeat the act just over seven months from now is an open question.
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