Republicans pivot on abortion in key Senate races to align with Trump

Republicans in critical congressional races are reshaping their stances on abortion, in some cases backing away from stricter limits in the wake of public backlash.

Sen. Rick Scott, Florida Republican, and Kari Lake, who is running for Arizona’s open Senate seat, have moderated their positions on restricting abortion. So has the Republican front-runner in Nevada’s race for Senate, who recently cited his wife’s past abortion for his decision to support a 24-week limit.

In polling and two consecutive election cycles, voters have expressed opposition to strict abortion limits. They have enshrined abortion access through ballot measures and rejected Republican candidates who embraced stricter limits.

Abortion is a central issue in the presidential campaign. Democrats hope it will taint the Republican Party enough to help President Biden win a second term and keep their narrow Senate majority.

Mr. Scott, when serving as Florida’s governor just a few years ago, pledged to sign “every pro-life bill” limiting abortion that came to his desk.

He now supports a more generous time frame that allows abortion up to 15 weeks of pregnancy.

Florida Democrats are trying to galvanize their base with a November ballot measure that would quash the state’s looming six-week limit on abortion and bar Florida from restricting the procedure before fetal viability, or 24 weeks of pregnancy.

Although Republicans significantly outnumber Democratic voters in the state, the abortion measure could bring out enough Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents to tighten the race against Mr. Scott’s likely Democratic opponent, former Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell.

Mr. Scott told The Washington Times he is pro-life and an advocate of adoption, but he said the Republican Party needs to be compassionate about unwanted pregnancies, and that is what Florida voters are telling him.

A USA Today/Ipsos poll released last week found that 3 out of 5 registered voters in Florida favor a ballot measure expanding abortion access and more than half oppose the state’s six-week ban that takes effect in the coming weeks.

Mr. Scott said he examined data from polls and focus groups and met with Florida voters to reach his decision to support a 15-week limit.

“We ought to be where the consensus is,” Mr. Scott said. “In my state, that consensus is 15 weeks.”

Ms. Lake, who ran as an ardent pro-life candidate in her unsuccessful bid for Arizona governor in 2022, has moderated her position since the state Supreme Court ruled this month to uphold an 1864 law banning nearly all abortions.

“This total ban on abortion that the Arizona Supreme Court has ruled on is out of line with where the people of this state are,” Ms. Lake said on social media.

The latest poll of likely Arizona voters shows Ms. Lake running 5 percentage points behind her likely Democratic opponent, Rep. Ruben Gallego.

Voter turnout will be a crucial factor in deciding the race. State Democrats plan to animate their base with a November ballot initiative similar to Florida’s, which would enshrine access to abortion up to 24 weeks of pregnancy. Mr. Gallego listed abortion rights at the top of his “priorities” on his campaign website and said he would vote to eliminate the filibuster to legalize abortion at the federal level if he is elected to the Senate.

Ms. Lake has shifted slightly toward Mr. Gallego’s direction. In a campaign video this month, she announced that she does not back a federal abortion ban and thinks abortion limits should have exceptions.

“I chose life, but I’m not every woman. I want to make sure that every woman who finds herself pregnant has more choices so that she can make that choice that I made,” Ms. Lake said.

The abortion limits that Mr. Scott and Ms. Lake are supporting are the most favorable in public opinion polls and align with the stance of former President Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.

Mr. Trump is leading Mr. Biden in Arizona and Florida.

Mr. Trump has rejected total bans on abortion or “heartbeat” legislation, which would ban abortion when a fetal heartbeat is detected, usually around six weeks of pregnancy.

The former president announced last month that he does not support a federal ban on the procedure and that the states should decide the matter. The Supreme Court affirmed that position when it overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling, which legalized abortion at the federal level, in June 2022.

Mr. Trump said earlier this year that he believed a 15-week limit would work best because polling showed that it had the greatest level of public support.

“Even hard-liners are agreeing … 15 weeks seems to be a number that people are agreeing at,” Mr. Trump said in March.

He blamed the 2022 Republican election losses on party and candidate pressure for strict abortion limits after Roe v. Wade was overturned. He takes credit for the Supreme Court ruling because he appointed three justices who made it possible.

Campaigning this year ahead of the Iowa caucuses, when he was competing in the Republican primary against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Mr. Trump denounced the six-week ban on abortion that Mr. DeSantis pushed through the state Legislature and signed into law. Mr. Trump called it “a terrible mistake.”

Mr. Trump said he supported exceptions for rape or incest or to save the life of the mother. Ms. Lake parroted that line in her statement after the Arizona Supreme Court ruling upholding the 1864 law.

“I agree with President Trump. We must have exceptions for rape, incest and the life of a mother,” she said.

Mr. Scott, a Trump ally, is also advocating for those exceptions.

In Nevada’s closely watched Senate race, the likely Republican candidate, Sam Brown, moved swiftly to moderate his position on abortion. He previously supported restrictions ranging from a 20-week limit to an all-out ban except when the mother’s life is in danger.

Mr. Brown, the prohibitive front-runner in the state’s primary, is on course to face Sen. Jacky Rosen in November.

The latest polling of registered voters shows the two statistically tied. Based on the last Senate race, abortion could be a deciding factor.

Two years ago, Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto defeated Republican challenger Adam Laxalt in Nevada by less than 1% of the vote. Many predicted the poorly performing economy and high gas prices would drag down Ms. Masto and flip the seat to Mr. Laxalt.

The election was held just months after the high court ruling on abortion. Ms. Masto campaigned heavily on protecting abortion access, and Mr. Laxalt ducked the issue.

Exit polls found abortion ranked second among the issues that mattered most to Nevada voters, and 89% of those who voted for Ms. Masto said abortion access was their top issue.

Abortion in Nevada is legal for up to 24 weeks of pregnancy. Advocates want to make it harder to restrict or change the law by enshrining it in the state constitution through a November ballot measure, which could also bring out additional voters for Ms. Rosen.

Mr. Brown, hoping to neutralize abortion as a weapon for Democrats, has softened his stance, calling for compassion for women who become unexpectedly pregnant.

Mr. Brown recently said he does not support further limiting the state’s 24-week limit, nor would he back a federal ban.

Mr. Brown, an injured veteran who served in Afghanistan, announced his new position in an NBC News interview while sitting next to his wife, who revealed during the sit-down that she had an abortion when she was 24.

“Things just get boiled down to trying to put something on paper or draw a line in the sand, and it’s missing the point that there is at least a woman who is going through what might be one of the most challenging things in her life,” Mr. Brown said in the interview. “We need to take care of those women.”

Correction: A previous version of this story featured a picture of Sen. Tim Scott instead of Sen. Rick Scott.