GREENSBORO, N.C. (WGHP) – Democrats on Thursday are releasing a new television ad in North Carolina to attack Republicans about abortion and recruit volunteers to help with a national campaign.
The DNC’s ad, called “They Said It Themselves,” focuses on Republicans’ public comments about abortion rights and promotes a website called DefendChoice.org to recruit volunteers to help with organizing the promotion of abortion rights and contact voters.
Even before the U.S. Supreme Court last month upended the constitutional authorization of Roe v. Wade and said that abortion laws should be decided by the states, about 27% of voters had said abortion rights would be a key factor for them in their votes in the 2022 midterm.
More recent polling finds that most Americans disagree with the court’s decision in Boggs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, and 538.com found that the ruling pushed abortion’s place among the priorities of voters.
In a WGHP/The Hill/Emerson College Poll released in May, nearly half the respondents (46%) said that Roe v. Wade should not be overturned, but nearly 9 in 10, when asked about their views on access to abortion, said they believed that there should be access, with most choosing to have some restrictions over a total ban should the court change its position.
Those data and two other factors make North Carolina a focal point in this conversation:
- The closely contested race between Republican Rep. Ted Budd of Advance and Democrat Cheri Beasley, the former chief justice of the NC Supreme Court, to replace retiring Republican Richard Burr.
- The 14 congressional races that, based on voting history, could give Democrats a larger share of the state’s delegation.
- North Carolina’s 20-week limit on abortions that was passed by the General Assembly but stayed by a federal court judge based on the allowances under Roe v. Wade. Leaders of the Republican-controlled state legislature want that stay lifted and also would like to address the law again but won’t as long as they can’t control a probable veto by Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper.
The DNC’s ad features statements of all Republican leaders in the U.S. Senate and House, such as Mitch McConnell, Kevin McCarty and Ted Cruz, as well as former President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence.
“Republicans have made clear over and over again that overturning Roe v. Wade is just the beginning – they won’t stop until abortion in illegal in every state, including North Carolina,” DNC Chair Jaime Harrison said in a released statement. “The DNC is making sure North Carolinians know that Republicans are hellbent on banning abortion with no exceptions for rape or incest. Republicans are trying to take away their rights, but we can fight back by organizing and working to elect Democrats up and down the ballot in North Carolina this November.”
DNC’s ad buys based on Defend Choice Week of Action promote a path for residents in North Carolina to volunteer. The DNC also launched digital display ads on the websites of more than 20 lifestyle publications and held a volunteer kickoff event coordinated by the DNC’s national distributed organizing team.
These volunteers would call and text potential voters and abortion rights supporters to generate their support in other battleground states as well. They also would stage press events.
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