Democrats warn Republicans won’t stop until abortion is banned

June 29, 2022

Inside today’s edition of Swing State Georgia:

• Democrats try to stir GOP divisions on abortion.

• A new witness in Georgia’s probe of Donald Trump.

• Not all Georgia DA’s oppose enforcing the ‘heartbeat bill.’

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Republicans aren’t done yet. That’s the message from the Democratic National Committee that will greet many Georgia voters in a new digital ad blitz unveiled this morning.

The 30-second spot is part of the DNC’s “MAGA Hot Mic” campaign to tie Republican officials to calls by anti-abortion advocates to pass an outright ban on abortions in the wake of the Supreme Court’s watershed ruling that reversed the Roe v. Wade decision.

In other words, Democrats want to try to see if they can create a little trouble within Republican ranks by emphasizing the idea of a total abortion ban - which certainly does not have full support within Georgia’s GOP.

Some fissures are already evident within the GOP. On one side, Republican Senate hopeful Herschel Walker and other GOP candidates say they want a full abortion ban - now that the Supreme Court has tossed the issue back to the states.

But while Gov. Brian Kemp and some of his allies say they personally support stricter abortion limits - they are more focused on implementing Georgia’s 2019 law pending in the courts. That measure would restrict abortions as soon as six weeks, before many women know they’re pregnant.

Democrats are struggling with their own debates about whether to support any limits on abortions. Asked about her stance on Fox News, Abrams called abortion a medical decision that should be made “between a doctor and a woman in consultation with her family.”

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LISTEN UP: We look at the political implications of the Supreme Court’s decision, along with Brian Kemp’s public safety push and the latest January 6 Committee hearings in our Wednesday edition of the Politically Georgia podcast.

Listen at the AJC and subscribe at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or Stitcher.

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SUBURBAN SLIDE. A warning sign for Democrats popped up this week in an AP piece about Republicans’ gains among suburban voters since 2020.

The AP writes that more than 1 million Americans in 43 states have switched from Democrat to Republican since Joe Biden won the White House in 2020, including in Georgia. More: