As former President Donald Trump inches closer to choosing his running mate, a prominent Democratic abortion rights group is criticizing his group of vice presidential candidates over their records on reproductive rights. .
EMILY’s List, a group dedicated to electing Democratic candidates who support abortion rights, is focusing its annual “On Notice” list on Trump’s ever-evolving list of would-be running mates to highlight what it calls his “agenda extreme anti-abortion.”
The group’s list of 14 Republican candidates for the vice presidential nomination includes frequently mentioned figures such as Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York, Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, Dakota Gov. South Kristi Noem and Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, as well as other former administration officials and allies such as Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders, former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson, Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, Representative Byron Donalds of Florida, Senator Katie Britt of Alabama, and Kari Lake, a Senate candidate from Arizona.
The group also lists former Republican presidential candidates as Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, businessman Vivek Ramaswamy and former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley.
“Our message with these Republican vice presidential picks is really simple. EMILY’s List sees extremism, and we are warning that this will be a ticket that supports an extreme anti-abortion agenda,” EMILY’s List President Jessica Mackler said in an interview.
“We also think it’s important to highlight, as far as his running mate is concerned, that this will be a ticket, regardless of who he chooses, that will work to dismantle reproductive freedom in America,” she added.
Yet months before the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee this summer, Trump offered little explicit information about his deliberations over choosing a new running mate. But he gave some tips about what kind of partner he would like in a future government and what issues are motivating his search.
He called Scott a “fantastic person” and sees him as an effective campaigner on his behalf, described Stefanik as a “killer” and sees growing support in Vance after he successfully advised Trump during the Ohio Republican Senate primary.
But the issue of abortion and the way he addresses it during the campaign are already influencing the way Trump is approaching his “veepstakes”.
Two sources close to Trump said he has been focused on the issue when it comes to choosing his next running mate and questioned whether the potential vice presidential candidates’ hardline views on abortion could turn off key voters in November.
But Mackler made it clear that EMILY’s List will not distinguish between candidates; His group sees them all as something beyond the mainstream.
“They are doing everything they can to hide their extremism,” Mackler said, describing what she sees as “a blatant attempt to mislead voters into believing that he is someone who he is not, and we already know that he is not we can trust Donald Trump. that.”
Trump has long touted his role in overturning Roe v. Wade. Wade, citing the appointments of three conservative justices to the Supreme Court during his administration. After months of questioning from reporters and opponents, Trump released a video this month saying he believed abortion policy should be left up to the states.
Days later, after the Arizona Supreme Court cleared the way for a near-total abortion ban, Trump agreed that the restrictions went “too far” and said the legislation would be “straightened out.” In the same conversation with reporters, he said he would not sign a national abortion ban, despite calls from many fellow Republicans to do so.
Despite his emphasis on states’ rights, Trump has maintained a variety of views on the issue since appearing in the public political eye: He has described himself as “very pro-choice” and said that Florida’s six-week abortion restrictions are “terrible, terrible things,” and he told former MSNBC host Chris Matthews in 2016 that women who have abortions should be punished.
Democrats, however, continue to lean heavily on the issue during the campaign. Vice President Kamala Harris — labeling Trump the “architect of this health crisis” during a stop in Phoenix this month — has taken a leading role in the administration’s messaging on abortion rights with her national “Fight for Reproductive Freedoms” tour. And with Florida’s six-week restrictions set to take effect next month, President Joe Biden will deliver campaign remarks in Tampa on Tuesday in an attempt to tie the state’s restrictions to the fallout from the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
NBC News’ latest national poll found Biden with a 15-point lead over Trump when it comes to handling the issue of abortion, but the issue ranked fifth among those polled on what they saw as the biggest problem facing the country.
This story originally appeared on NBCNews.com read the full story
