Vice President Kamala Harris is making a stop in Minneapolis today, part of her “Fight for Reproductive Freedoms” tour. Not exactly the Rolling Stones's "Licks" tour from the early 21st century, but it has a charm all its own.
Harris will visit one of the administration's most important corporate partners, Planned Parenthood. The vice president will actually tour an abortion mill, becoming the highest-ranking politician to visit an abortion clinic.
How proud she must be.
No word on whether Mrs. Harris will witness an abortion, although it wouldn't surprise me if there are some of her supporters who devoutly wish she would. After all, it's "just a medical procedure."
One troubling point: Why call it “Fight for Reproductive Freedoms” when an abortion clinic does exactly the opposite of promoting "reproduction"?
Walking into an abortion clinic as part of a reelection campaign pitch is a far cry from the days in which Democrats wanted abortions to be "safe, legal, and rare." Back in 2020, President Joe Biden "barely mentioned abortion rights…a reflection of his discomfort with discussion of the issue and how little his strategists believed abortion energized swing voters," per The New York Times.
Now, Democratic strategists seem to think that highlighting what the administration has done to preserve abortion access will be a winning move. I wonder whether the pro-life Democrat contingent—a little under 20 percent of Dems and Dem-leaning independents—has been considered. "About half of Democrats who say abortion should be mostly or entirely illegal are either Black (23%) or Hispanic (30%)," reported the Pew Research Center as of 2022—groups that Team Biden has been particularly worried about, as Democrats' longtime advantage has been shrinking. Polling data tell us it's white, nonreligious Democrats who tend to be more gung-ho about abortion rights; some of the rest of the party may not feel as keen on the Harris abortion clinic visit (to the extent that they're following it at all).
I notice there hasn't exactly been wall-to-wall coverage of this visit. The White House is smart not to openly spit in the face of pro-lifers. As it is, the efforts to paint the administration as "moderate" took a big hit.
Harris has already visited Wisconsin, California, Georgia, Michigan and Arizona as part of her “Reproductive Freedoms” tour, and has been campaigning heavily since Biden’s State of the Union address last week.
Minnesota has voted Democrat[c in every presidential election since 1976, but the March 5 primary saw 18.9% vote “uncommitted” — sending a warning to Biden over his policies toward Israel.
Polls also show a tight race in the state between the incumbent and former President Donald Trump.
Minnesota is blue, but the last few presidential elections have been competitive. While abortion might energize some left-wing women, the war with Hamas is upsetting to many thousands of transplanted Muslims, possibly offsetting a sizable number of pro-abortion votes.
Trump has a chance in Minnesota, but it's still a long shot.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member