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By endorsing a nationwide abortion ban, David Schweikert is creating the case against himself in 2024, according to a new report from the Wall Street Journal.
While recent polling shows “61% of [Arizonans] surveyed said they favored guaranteeing access to legal abortion nationwide,” Schweikert told the Journal “he would continue to vote anti-abortion in Congress.”
DCCC Spokesperson Lauryn Fanguen:
“Once again, David Schweikert has shown how out of touch he is with the values and beliefs of everyday Arizonans, who have made it clear that they support protecting the right for women to make their own health care decisions without politicians in the room.”
Read more about why David Schweikert is increasingly vulnerable heading into the election year below:
Wall Street Journal: Arizona Is the Next Abortion Battleground
Eliza Collins and Laura Kusisto | December 10, 2023
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Arizona is poised to take center stage in state-level battles over abortion this week when its highest court weighs whether to allow a near-total ban on the procedure to take effect.
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The case will kick off an election-year showdown over reproductive rights that is expected to heavily influence the outcomes of Arizona’s hypercompetitive 2024 races, including contests for Congress and the White House. Activists are gearing up to put an abortion-rights measure on the ballot in Arizona next year.
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Voters have favored abortion rights in seven consecutive state referendums since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022. Since then, strict abortion laws have taken effect in some 16 states.
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Two-thirds of Arizona voters said the Supreme Court’s decision to eliminate a federal constitutional right to an abortion was a factor in their 2022 vote, according to the election survey AP VoteCast. And 61% of those surveyed said they favored guaranteeing access to legal abortion nationwide.
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Nowhere will the theory be tested more than in Arizona’s first congressional district, which includes part of Phoenix and its suburbs. The district is represented by Rep. David Schweikert (R., Ariz.) but has otherwise trended away from the GOP in recent years as voters in this wealthy, highly educated area have been turned off by former President Donald Trump and his allies. President Biden narrowly won the district in 2020, but voters re-elected Schweikert that year and again in 2022.
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Schweikert is seen as one of the most vulnerable Republicans in the country in part because of his anti-abortion stance. Schweikert co-sponsored a bill before Roe was overturned that in effect would have banned abortions nationwide. In an interview, he said he would continue to vote antiabortion in Congress but is wrestling with what it means to support states’ rights even when he doesn’t like how the state votes.
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He is not the only one. Republicans have struggled with how to campaign on anti-abortion policies. Trump, the likely GOP nominee for president in 2024, touts his role in nominating several justices who voted to overturn Roe but has also said that taking extreme stances on the issue has cost Republicans electorally.
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