Texas rally highlights Harris focus on abortion in closing days of campaign

Vice President Harris is leaning into abortion rights as a closing argument in the final days before the election, and will head to Texas this week to highlight the state as “ground zero of the nation’s extreme abortion bans.”

Harris doesn’t expect to win the deep red state, but the campaign wants to hammer home its message that former President Trump is a threat to women.

At a rally in Houston, Harris will be joined by women who have faced the direct impacts of Texas’s ban. Texas was one of the first states to restrict abortion when its “heartbeat bill” took effect in September 2021, banning abortion after the detection of fetal cardiac activity — which is usually six weeks into a pregnancy, before many people are even aware they are pregnant.

At the time the law passed, it was the most restrictive abortion law in the country. After the Supreme Court's 2022 Dobbs decision that overturned Roe v. Wade and eliminated the federal right to an abortion, dozens of other states enacted similar or even stricter laws. Texas now bans abortion almost entirely.

Holding an event focused solely on abortion in a politically unfriendly state less than two weeks before the election shows the Harris campaign believes it can harness anger at abortion bans and turn it into votes. Abortion routinely polls as among the top concerns for voters, but it hasn’t always been the primary issue.

Former President Trump repeatedly brags about his role in getting Roe overturned, and the rally is part of the Harris campaign’s effort to elevate the issue and tie the consequences of state abortion bans directly back to him. More than 1 in 3 women live in a state that bans abortion.

The trip to Texas brings Harris full circle in her effort to keep abortion rights front and center for voters. Two years ago this month, Harris went to Texas for an event to highlight the impact of the Dobbs decision.

In the Dobbs aftermath, Harris traveled the country to meet with activists, providers and people impacted by abortion bans, cementing herself as the Biden administration’s foremost messenger on abortion.

The Harris campaign has also been deploying surrogates to highlight abortion access, including Texas resident Amanda Zurawski, who led a lawsuit against the Texas law after she was denied an abortion and nearly died from pregnancy complications.

Harris has also appeared with Kate Cox, who fled the state after the Texas Supreme Court denied her an emergency abortion.