Harris focuses on abortion in Texas, as Trump heads to Michigan By Reuters
By Trevor Hunnicutt, Gabriella Borter and Georgina McCartney
HOUSTON (Reuters) – Kamala Harris and Donald Trump diverted from attacking states that will decide the November election on Friday in Texas, a conservative state that was the first to implement a nearly defunct abortion law.
Texas hasn't supported a Democratic president since 1976, and Republican Trump will likely win 40 electoral college votes.
But Democrats are betting it will give Vice President Harris a powerful platform to talk about abortion rights in the final days before the Nov. 5 election.
The famous singer, Beyonce, who was born in Houston, woke up the crowd by misleading Harris, who entered the stage to record Beyonce's song, Freedom, which is his campaign song. He didn't sing though.
Harris spoke about the danger former President Trump and Republicans would pose to abortion rights nationwide if elected, a campaign source said, and was joined by women who suffered after Texas' anti-abortion laws were passed and their family members.
“Texas, what's happening all over the state and our country is a health care crisis, and Donald Trump is the architect of it,” Harris said.
Texas implemented the first law of its kind in September 2021 that banned abortions after six weeks and allowed anyone to sue abortion patients and those who assisted them.
The US Supreme Court, with a strong majority built by Trump's court appointments, allowed the law to stand, then struck down federal abortion rights by overturning Roe v. Wade June 2022.
Amidst personal stories of abortion-related tragedy, and before Beyonce took the stage, the gathering was a dance party, with people moving and singing to the DJ.
While Beyonce appealed to the small crowd, 91-year-old Willie Nelson previously revealed that he still has cachet in his hometown of Texas.
“Are we ready to say Madam?” Nelson asked the crowd before launching into “Moms Don't Let Your Kids Grow Up To Be Cowboys,” to which the audience sang along.
He closed with “On the Road Again”
Trump was also campaigning in Texas on Friday, stopping in Austin to tape an episode of “The Joe Rogan Experience,” a popular host with tens of millions of social media followers, mostly men.
After a three-hour interview with Rogan in Texas, Trump arrived late to a rally at a battlefield in Michigan.
“We have a war and he's going,” Trump said Friday night, referring to Israel's attack on Iran.
Harris' team had been in contact with Rogan's show about his appearance, but the schedule didn't go well, spokesman Ian Sams told MSNBC Thursday.
Trump has lost ground among women voters since Harris was elected to the Democratic nomination, polls show, even though the two are in tight races in battleground states.
Harris led Trump 49% to 36%, or 13 percentage points, among female voters in a Reuters/Ipsos poll published in late August, compared to his 9-point lead in a July poll.
Trump has taken credit for appointing judges who helped overturn Roe v. Wade.
Since winning the Republican primary earlier this year, he has sought the support of moderate and independent voters, saying he would not support a national ban on abortion and that each state should be free to restrict abortions as they see fit.
He urged that there be exceptions to any ban involving incidents of rape and sleeping with relatives or protecting the health of the mother. However, Trump has said in August that he will vote against an amendment in his home state of Florida to protect abortion rights that would remove the ban on abortions six weeks before most women know they are pregnant.
Most Americans disagree with the Supreme Court's overturning of Roe, which fueled a wave of Democratic victories in the 2022 midterm elections and left Republicans scrambling to find a winning message on the issue.
A recent survey of women voters by KFF, a health policy research and news organization, found that abortion is the top priority among women voters under 30.
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Democratic Senate candidate Colin Allred also attended Harris' rally, as Democrats sought to encourage him in his campaign to unseat Republican Senator Ted Cruz.
Harris spearheaded the Biden administration's reproductive rights initiatives and made the issue a cornerstone of his presidential campaign.
Democrats highlighted personal issues to show the impact of abortion being almost completely banned in 16 states.
Ahead of the Houston trip, his campaign released an ad featuring a Texas woman who was denied an emergency abortion when her water broke at 16 weeks in 2022 and nearly died of sepsis.
Some seven million women of reproductive age live in Texas, according to the Center for Reproductive Rights.
An analysis by JAMA Pediatrics, a medical journal, found that Texas saw a greater increase in infant mortality than the rest of the US after enforcing the abortion ban, and early reports indicate that Texas also saw a greater increase in maternal mortality.
