Candidates Eye Signs About How Abortion Issue May Shake Up Midterms

The Washington Post: Pence Leans In As Abortion Ruling Leaves Trump, Other Potential 2024 GOP Candidates Cautious
In the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade, former vice president Mike Pence says abortion should be banned nationwide and is planning behind the scenes to focus on the issue in the coming weeks, according to advisers. Former president Donald Trump, in contrast, fears the ruling could hurt the GOP’s election chances, his advisers said, even as he hailed the ruling as “victory for life” at a Saturday rally. And some ambitious Republican governors have called for tightening restrictions in their states while other leading figures in the party have avoided such ideas, as strategists say it remains unclear how abortion will reshape key races in future elections. (Knowles and Dawsey, 6/27)

More from the Republicans —

Newsweek: Donald Trump Hails His Supreme Court Picks Behind Abortion Ruling
Donald Trump hailed his three Supreme Court picks for "standing their ground" to end the constitutional right to abortion, as he spoke at a rally in Illinois on Saturday—a day after the court overturned Roe V Wade. ... "Thanks to the courage found within the United States Supreme Court, this long divisive issue will be decided by the states and by the American people," Trump said. "That's the way it should have been many, many years ago and that's the way it is now so congratulations. As for the Republican Party, we are today the party of life and we are the party of everyone." (Rahman, 6/26)

The Washington Post: Mary Miller Says Abortion Ruling 'Victory For White Life' At Trump Rally 
A Republican lawmaker called the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the nationwide right to abortion established nearly 50 years ago in Roe v. Wade a “victory for white life,” which was met with cheers at a rally held by former president Donald Trump. “President Trump, on behalf of all the MAGA patriots in America, I want to thank you for the historic victory for white life in the Supreme Court yesterday,” Rep. Mary E. Miller (R) said at the rally Saturday night in Mendon, Ill., referring to Trump’s former campaign slogan, “Make America Great Again.” ... Miller’s team swiftly issued an explanation for what it deemed to be “a mix-up of words.” Miller’s spokesman, Isaiah Wartman, told the Associated Press that the Illinois Republican misread her prepared speech and was supposed to declare the divisive court ruling a victory for the “right to life.” (Hassan, 6/26)

The New York Times: Under Court’s Shadow, N.Y. Governor Candidates Lob Final Pitches 
A pair of seismic rulings by the Supreme Court jolted the race for governor of New York on Sunday, as Democrats and Republicans made final pitches to an electorate that found itself at the center of renewed national debates over guns and abortion rights. All three Democratic candidates for governor fanned out Sunday morning to Black churches in Harlem and Queens, Manhattan’s Pride March and street corners across the city to denounce the rulings and promise an aggressive response. (Fandos, 6/26)

The Washington Post: Conservatives On The March: Republicans Gain Ground Despite Democratic Control 
The conservative Supreme Court’s landmark victories this week on abortion and guns capped a year-long string of victories on the right, especially in 23 states, including giants like Texas and Florida, where conservatives control all branches of elected government. Republicans have expanded school choice, reformed school curriculums, curbed voting access, lowered taxes and launched a new wave of culture wars against gay, lesbian and transgender Americans. With the court overturning Roe v. Wade and the constitutional right to an abortion on Friday and curtailing restrictions on gun ownership on Thursday, conservative activists have had reasons to celebrate amid growing hopes for retaking the House and Senate this fall. (Scherer, 6/26)

Politico: Battleground Republicans Squeezed Hardest On Abortion After Roe Falls 
House Republicans say they’re mostly unfazed by the political ramifications of Friday’s Supreme Court abortion ruling. Except some of their most endangered incumbents, who’d rather not say much about it at all. Even Republicans from the nation’s biggest battlegrounds now embrace the anti-abortion mantle, a near-universal position in a House GOP conference veering rightward. But as abortion rights remain highly popular with voters, including in swing districts, most of those vulnerable lawmakers were uninterested in discussing the particulars of what, if anything, should happen following the court’s Friday ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade. (Ferris and Mutnick, 6/26)

AP: More Than 1 Million Voters Switch To GOP In Warning For Dems
A political shift is beginning to take hold across the U.S. as tens of thousands of suburban swing voters who helped fuel the Democratic Party’s gains in recent years are becoming Republicans. More than 1 million voters across 43 states have switched to the Republican Party over the last year, according to voter registration data analyzed by The Associated Press. The previously unreported number reflects a phenomenon that is playing out in virtually every region of the country — Democratic and Republican states along with cities and small towns — in the period since President Joe Biden replaced former President Donald Trump. (Peoples and Kessler, 6/27)

How Democrats are reacting —

Reuters: Democratic Women Call On Biden, Congress To Protect Abortion Rights
Leading Democratic women called on President Joe Biden and Congress on Sunday to protect abortion rights nationwide after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, in a ruling that has heightened political tensions between the federal government and states. Two Democratic progressives, Senator Elizabeth Warren and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, urged Biden to use federal land as a safe haven for abortion in states that ban or severely restrict the practice, after the high court on Friday overturned the landmark 1973 ruling that had recognized women's constitutional right to abortion. (Morgan and Lawder, 6/26)

Newsweek: Supreme Court 'Set A Torch' To Its Legitimacy With Roe Ruling: Warren
Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren blasted the U.S. Supreme Court on Sunday, just days after it released its ruling that overturned Roe. v. Wade, and argued that the institution "burned whatever legitimacy they may still have had" with its decision. During her interview on ABC's This Week, host Martha Raddatz discussed how after the decision was released, Senators Susan Collins, a Republican from Maine, and Joe Manchin, a Democrat from West Virginia, said they felt they had been misled during the confirmation hearing of Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Before Kavanaugh was confirmed, Collins said he told her that he viewed Roe v. Wade as "settled law." The two senators said they also felt misled by Justice Neil Gorsuch in his confirmation hearing in regards to Roe in statements they released Friday. Both justices voted to overturn the landmark case. (Landen, 6/26)

The Washington Post: Democrats Seize On Abortion Ruling In Midterms As Republicans Tread Carefully
Democrats across the country are seizing on the Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade, with state and federal candidates seeking to turn anger about the decision into support at the ballot box, even as Republicans aim to keep attention on rising prices and crime less than five months before the midterms. Led by President Biden, who declared Friday that “Roe is on the ballot” and “personal freedoms are on the ballot,” Democrats on the front lines of the fight to keep the party’s slim congressional majorities have cast their campaigns as key parts of a larger battle to restore abortion rights and prevent the rollback of other liberties. Democratic candidates for governor, attorney general and offices at the state level, where abortion laws will now be fully determined, pledged to put the issue at the forefront of their campaigns. (Linksey and Itkowitz, 6/26)

Politico: ‘This Is A Crisis’: Politicians Dig In On Abortion Following Supreme Court Ruling 
It was clear on Sunday that the Supreme Court decision to overturn decades of abortion precedent has only further cemented Republican and Democratic entrenchment in their positions on the issue. “I am horrified … that my daughters will have fewer rights than I’ve had virtually my whole life,” Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, said Sunday on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” a comment reflective of the emotional response to Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. (Niedzwiadek, 6/26)