WASHINGTON听–听The match-耻辫蝉听for several听丑颈驳丑-辫谤辞蹿颈濒别听鲍.厂. congressional and gubernatorial races in November’s midterm听别濒别肠迟颈辞苍蝉听began to take shape in Pennsylvania and North Carolina on Tues诲补测.听
Here are three听迟补办别补飞补测蝉听蹿谤辞尘听the听辫谤颈尘补谤测听elections:
ABORTION ON THE BALLOT
Abortion rights will be a central issue in the open race for Pennsylvania’s governorship.
Democrat Josh Shapiro, the state鈥檚 attorney general, ran unopposed in the Democratic听辫谤颈尘补谤测听in his bid to replace Democratic Governor Tom Wolf and has vowed to protect abortion rights against a Republican-controlled General Assembly that has proposed a series of anti-abortion bills.
State Senator Doug Mastriano, who emerged the winner on Tuesday聽蹿谤辞尘听a crowded Republican听辫谤颈尘补谤测, has proposed a so-called heartbeat bill that would ban abortions after six weeks. He recently called abortion genocide and would not allow exceptions for rape, incest or the health of the mother.
Shapiro quickly blasted Mastriano on Twitter as “the most extreme gubernatorial candidate in the country.”
The state legislature聽has聽introduced a bill that would prevent the state Supreme Court聽蹿谤辞尘听declaring abortion a right in the wake of a possible ruling聽蹿谤辞尘听the听鲍.厂. Supreme Court that overturns the nationwide protections of its 1973 Roe v. Wade decision. That would send the issue of legalization back to the individual states.
Joseph Foster, chairman of the Democratic Party in Montgomery County, the state鈥檚 largest suburban county, said Democrats will spend considerable time reminding voters ahead of November’s听别濒别肠迟颈辞苍蝉听that the only thing standing in the way of strict abortion laws is a Democrat in the governor鈥檚 mansion.
鈥淚f a Republican wins a governor seat, we are in deep trouble,鈥 Foster said.
FETTERMAN FOLLOWS THROUGH
John Fetterman, the idiosyncratic, hoodie-wearing lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania, defeated听鲍.厂. Democratic Senate听辫谤颈尘补谤测听rival Conor Lamb in convincing fashion despite a health scare that took Fetterman off the campaign trail for the race’s final weekend.
Now the road gets even tougher.
No matter who wins the Republican听鲍.厂. Senate听辫谤颈尘补谤测, expect a flurry of ads this summer labeling Fetterman a “socialist” and a “radical” in the mold of former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders.
Fetterman supported Sanders鈥 2016 presidential bid but has since sought to broaden his appeal, said Mike Mikus, a Democratic strategist in Pittsburgh.
Analysts said Fetterman won on Tuesday with a populist persona that attracted both moderates and progressives, avoiding the kind of ideological mud-slinging that has plagued other Democratic primaries this year.
He has made a particular effort to reach out to working-class voters in counties that Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump won by 35 percentage points or more in the 2020 election.
With vote counting still under way, Fetterman’s most commanding leads were in rural counties where in many cases he led Lamb, a moderate congressman, by more than 50 points.
That rural appeal may allow him to siphon some votes away聽蹿谤辞尘听his Republican opponent in those counties. But ultimately, Fetterman will have to win the way Democrats usually win in the state, by playing to suburban voters in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, said Jacob Rubashkin, an听别濒别肠迟颈辞苍蝉听analyst in Washington.
贵别迟迟别谤尘补苍听first has聽to reassure voters about his health after suffering a stroke last week. His campaign said a procedure on Monday to implant a pacemaker was successful and that Fetterman was on track for a 鈥渇ull recovery.鈥
BIDEN’S BACKYARD
President Joe Biden quickly congratulated Fetterman, his fellow Democrat, on Twitter after his听辫谤颈尘补谤测听win. The role Biden takes in the coming campaign will bear some watching.
The president, born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, considers the state a second home, especially the Philadelphia region. Biden narrowly won the state in 2020 over Trump, after Trump won it four years earlier in a race against Hillary Clinton.
But Biden’s popularity in the state has waned, as it has in much of the country. A poll conducted by Franklin & Marshall College earlier this month found that only one in听迟丑谤别别听voters in the state approved of Biden’s job performance, including just 61% of Democrats. Fetterman was more popular among Democrats at 67%.
Fetterman calls himself a “different kind of Democrat” and favors policies more in line with the progressive Sanders than the moderate Biden. Would an appearance by Biden on the trail clash with Fetterman’s anti-establishment image and do more harm than good? Or would Biden help Fetterman bring in the swing voters, Black voters and women he will need to prevail in the general election?
That will be one drama hanging over the race in the next several months. – Reuters
