Swing-State Republicans Embrace Trump’s New Abortion Stance
Multiple Republican candidates in swing-state races aligned themselves with former President Donald J. Trump after he said abortion access should be left up to the states, avoiding mention of a national ban and laying bare the party’s rift over the issue.
The pivot was particularly pronounced among at least a couple G.O.P. contenders for the U.S. Senate, which Democrats control by a thin 51-49 seat majority.
Republicans would need to flip just one seat in the chamber if Mr. Trump prevails in the November election, but they have watched the losses pile up for the party’s candidates since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. In the midterm elections that year, a widely predicted “red wave” failed to materialize for Republicans, who missed opportunities in Pennsylvania, Nevada and Arizona to flip the Senate, and dropped key governor’s races, including in Michigan.
“I agree with President Trump that the issue of abortion should be decided at the state level,” Mike Rogers, a former longtime House member from Michigan whom Mr. Trump endorsed in that state’s open-seat Senate race, said in a statement.
As a House member in 2013, Mr. Rogers was one of 131 Republican co-sponsors of the Life at Conception Act, a fetal personhood bill that did not pass.
In Ohio, Bernie Moreno, a wealthy former car dealer who rode Mr. Trump’s endorsement to a victory last month in a contested Republican primary for the Senate, staked out similar ground as the former president.