Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Best/Getty
Four months ago, when the U.S. Supreme Court issued the Dobbs decision, overturning Roe v. Wade and returning the issue of abortion to the states, it was an unmitigated disaster for American women.
For the Democratic Party, it provided a political lifeline.
Outraged supporters of a woman’s right to choose turned out in droves in special elections earlier this summer in New York and Alaska, bringing unexpected victories for Democratic candidates. A referendum on a constitutional amendment in Kansas, which would have set the stage for an abortion ban in the state, lost by double-digits. Even in the face of punishing inflation and the historical trend of major losses in midterm elections for the party controlling the White House, polls throughout the summer showed Democratic candidates dramatically overperforming—and buoyed, in large part, by public backlash to the Court’s abortion ruling.