Abortion

When the Supreme Court of the United States ruled in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization in favor of the overturning of Roe v. Wade back in June, thus ending a woman's federal right to an abortion, the pro-life movement was jubilant. The decision was the culmination of decades of campaigning by conservative and anti-abortion activists to send the issue back to the states. Republican-controlled legislatures across the country moved immediately to place restrictions on abortion, and for the first time in decades, the pro-life movement finally felt like it had the upper hand. Fast-forward five months to the morning after the midterm elections and much of that optimism must have dissipated.

It’s useful to think of this election as a contrast between how, in the simplest understanding, people see the world from two very different perspectives. It’s simple, but it’s important. There was a line on the edge of my memory the other day from a certain victorious congressional candidate: Carry the word throughout this district, the word we said was true: that we do stand for the people who push a grocery cart and worry about the grocery prices, that we do stand for the people who care about this country and their children's future.

Amid 40-year-high inflation, dwindling investment portfolios, and 20-year high mortgage rates, the Democratic Party appears most concerned with protecting the abortion rights of rape and incest victims. I live in Florida, and almost every day in recent weeks, I've gotten at least one flyer warning me that one Republican candidate or another wants to “imprison victims of rape.” Last week, I got three different flyers about “extremist Audrey Henson,” a young Republican candidate for the Florida House of Representatives, all concerning her alleged support for criminalizing abortion, even in cases of rape and incest. One featured an image of a book supposedly written by Ms. Henson with the title, “Why I am Pro-Life as a Millennial Woman.

Ron DeSantis and Stacey Abrams have at least a couple things in common: they’re both running for governor of their respective states, and they both recently appeared onstage at big-name concerts. It is there, however, that the similarities end. Country music star Luke Bryan is defending himself for bringing DeSantis on stage over the weekend to raise funds for Hurricane Ian victims. Bryan and DeSantis were raked over the coals on social media following the concert, with users labeling DeSantis an “anti-LGBTQ” and “anti-immigrant” governor and threatening to boycott Bryan. One user expressed fear of “my hard earned money going into the pockets of election deniers and democracy assassins.

With the 2022 midterms now only a month away, there isn't a candidate anywhere who can avoid fielding questions about abortion. The issue is fair game thanks to the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade in its recent decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. And all the more so because, at least in theory, Congress could act to either federally legalize abortion or federally ban it. So it is that abortion has become a major topic of conversation in the US Senate campaign in Georgia, where NFL legend Herschel Walker and incumbent Senator Rafael Warnock are locked in one of the most pivotal races this year.

By all accounts, Herschel Walker's defects as a Senate candidate are widely known. The star running back had been very public about his history of mental illness, which led to violent threats in his former marriage. Far beyond the normal risks associated with running a celebrity outsider, Walker represented a particularly unlikely choice. Of course, that all changed thanks to Walker's association with Donald Trump. Ever since Walker joined Trump's New Jersey Generals franchise in the ill-fated USFL, the two have been connected. It was this friendship and Trump's endorsement that allowed Walker to clear the field in what might have been a competitive primary to unseat Senator Raphael Warnock.

The blue wave cometh — or does it? Contra reports that a cerulean tsunami is bearing down on Congress, RealClearPolitics still projects that the GOP will win the Senate this November, and Tuesday's dismal inflation numbers have only boosted Republican hopes. So...back to the red wave then? Or maybe the red and blue waves will combine into a purple wave, which, in conjunction with a chartreuse wave, will bury Politico's offices in a sea of multicolored futility? Midterm election predictions are always a fool's game, which is why pundits love them. Yet allow this much: the political climate right now is uncertain. And it's into this tense atmosphere that Senator Lindsey Graham has chucked what some are saying could be a game-changer.

Amid a Senate primary season that's seen wins by a number of inexperienced candidates with serious question marks, the attitude of the Republican consultant class in Washington has been straight out of Douglas Adams's The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: DON'T PANIC! Yes, the argument goes, these candidates are not ideal; yes, it's going to take some effort to hold the seats of key retiring Republicans with so many new faces; and yes, the gubernatorial candidates in some key contests aren't doing the GOP any favors. But overall the attitude remained positive, at least through the first six months of the year. Now, all of that has changed.

Someone once asked Johnny Depp about the secret of good acting, and he replied: “I pretty much try and stay in a constant state of confusion just because of the expression it leaves on my face.” Okay, maybe Depp’s not someone to hold up as a sage on the human condition. But I think we can at least agree that he knows what he’s talking about when it comes to projecting the sort of halfway engaging befuddlement that earned him a reported $90 million as Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales. I mention all this only in so far as it applies to seventy-one-year-old Patty Murray, Democrat from Washington state. Murray won her primary election on Tuesday ahead of what could be a sixth consecutive term in the US Senate.