WASHINGTON – Vice President Kamala Harris will interrupt her tour of battleground states Friday for a Houston rally intended to highlight the consequences of Texas’ near-total abortion ban.
Harris’ itinerary this week is heavy on stops in Georgia and swing states in the upper Midwest as she tries to reach undecided voters in areas key to the Nov. 5 election.
Texas is a frequent fundraising stop for candidates, but it is unusual – at least in recent cycles – to see big presidential campaign rallies in the state shortly before Election Day. Polling indicates former President Donald Trump has a clear, albeit single-digit, advantage in Texas, which has not backed a Democratic presidential candidate since 1976.
The rally is likely less about making a last-minute play for the state and more about refocusing national attention on abortion, a topic where polling gives Democrats a distinct edge.
Harris is set to be joined at the rally by U.S. Rep. Colin Allred, D-Dallas, who is running against U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas. Allred has endorsed Harris while trying to keep his distance from the presidential contest.
Instead, he has tried to make the race a referendum on Cruz and his support for tight abortion restrictions.
Allred has centered his campaign around a commitment to restoring abortion rights.
“What women in Texas are facing every day under Ted Cruz’s abortion ban is unacceptable,” Allred said in a statement Tuesday. “By supporting an abortion ban that makes no exceptions for rape, incest or the life of the mother, Ted Cruz has put women at risk.”
Allred said Texas women “deserve to have their voices heard” and he’s glad they will have a platform to tell their stories at the rally.
The Cruz campaign has sought to tie the Senate race to the presidential contest and jumped on news of the rally, repeating a statement the senator has used several times, including in their debate last week – “Colin Allred is Kamala Harris.”
The Cruz campaign hosted a Monday night tele-rally with Trump intended to highlight the former president’s support for Cruz and cast Allred as a proxy for Harris.
Cruz said during the rally that Allred has backed Harris policies that are soft on illegal immigration and harmful to the state’s oil and gas industry.
Cruz described himself as Trump’s “strongest ally” by far in the U.S. Senate.
During Friday’s rally, Harris is expected to cast Texas as ground zero in the fight over abortion as she spotlights stories of Texas women with pregnancy complications who were denied care.
Democrats say Trump is responsible for tight abortion restrictions or outright bans in many states because he nominated three conservative Supreme Court justices who provided the margin for overturning Roe vs. Wade.
Texas is among 13 states that outlaw abortion, according to the Guttmacher Institute.
Abortion was a theme at the August Democratic National Convention, which featured Texans Kate Cox and Amanda Zurawski sharing stories of being denied medically necessary abortions.
Zurawski and her husband spoke about how complications rendered her pregnancy nonviable but doctors would not perform an abortion. Zurawski was hospitalized days later with an infection that nearly killed her and threatened her fertility.
