Vulnerable Senate Dems campaign as last hope against abortion ban

Democrats struggled to sell a 2016 campaign built around the GOP’s blockade of their president’s Supreme Court pick, though they say this time around the consequences of a conservative bench are no longer theoretical. Republicans are playing down the ramifications. Laxalt, Nevada’s former GOP attorney general, said that while ending Roe would constitute a “historic victory,” the issue is “settled law” in the state.

Roughly 2,500 miles from Cortez Masto’s Silver State, Hassan is warning of an even more dire future after the court’s final ruling, expected next month. New Hampshire lacks the backstop that Nevada has, meaning the state or Congress could quickly move to restrict abortion access should the Supreme Court overturn Roe.

“If my opponents get this seat, they will support the kind of national abortion ban that’s now being talked about,” Hassan warns. “There are no protections in New Hampshire right now.”