Vice President Kamala Harris is taking a break from bouncing around swing states to visit Texas on Friday, a deep GOP state that Democrats haven’t won in nearly five decades.
Ms. Harris is set to hold a rally in Houston alongside Rep. Colin Allred, who is running for Ted Cruz’s Senate seat in a tight contest. She will reportedly focus on anti-abortion laws and abortion bans in red states.
The Washington Times reached out to the Allred and Harris campaigns for comment.
The vice president will be joined by women affected by Texas’ restrictive abortion laws, which took effect following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade in 2022 — a decision that former President Donald Trump took credit for.
He has lately softened his rhetoric on abortion, arguing that the court’s decision allowed for voters to decide on a state-by-state basis. During a pair of closed-door meetings with Republicans this past summer, Mr. Trump urged lawmakers to make that same pitch to voters while he conceded that the Dobbs decision likely hurt the GOP during the 2022 midterm elections.
Indeed, abortion is an issue that Democrats have used throughout this cycle to hammer Republicans and one that is taking center stage in the Lonestar State.
Ms. Harris trails Mr. Trump by nearly 6 points in Texas, according to RealClearPolling, in a state that a Democratic presidential candidate hasn’t won since Jimmy Carter in 1976.
But her visit, which comes with just 10 days remaining until Election Day on Nov. 5, signals that Democrats believe they have a shot at unseating Sen. Cruz, who is vying for a third term.
Mr. Allred, who was elected to the House in 2018 after flipping Texas’ 32nd Congressional District and unseating longtime lawmaker Pete Sessions, has gained some ground on Mr. Cruz, but still trails the incumbent by nearly 5 points.
The Cook Political Report has the race rated as “lean Republican,” and Democrats, who fear they may lose in Montana and the majority in the Senate, are dumping millions into the race to back Mr. Allred.
A spokesperson for the Cruz campaign said in a statement to The Times that Mr. Allred and Ms. Harris have spent “the last four years working hand in hand against Texans and the American people with their radical policies, whether those be pushing to allow boys in girls’ sports, allowing dangerous illegal aliens to come into our country, or trying to destroy the oil and gas industry in Texas.
“Colin and Kamala share an agenda, and now they’ll share a stage for all Texans to see.”
• Alex Miller can be reached at amiller@washingtontimes.com.
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