Will abortion issue impact the Presidential & U.S. Senate races in Texas?
In this week's Eye on Politics, the potential impact the abortion and reproductive rights issue will have on the Presidential and U.S. Senate races in Texas. The race for Texas House Speaker is heating up in Austin. Voters in Texas need to know about a key deadline before voting this November. Plus, Eye on Politics reporter Jack Fink asks the Director of Debate at SMU about Tuesday's big debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump. These stories and more in the latest episode of Eye on Politics (original air date: September 8, 2024).
Abortion impact on Texas races
Democrats are making abortion or reproductive rights one of their top priority issues.
Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz want to take Roe v Wade, which was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court two years ago, and make the protections into federal law.
North Texas Congressman Colin Allred agrees and has also campaigned hard on this issue as he hopes to unseat Republican Senator Ted Cruz.
At his rallies, Allred has regularly featured women who sued the state of Texas, saying vague rules as part of the state's abortion ban meant they had to leave Texas to get an abortion during their troubled pregnancies.
On the other side Republicans, including former President Donald Trump and Senator Cruz, agree with the Supreme Court's decision stating abortion and reproductive rights should be decided by each state, not Congress.
Jack spoke with two Texas women on the issue: former Dallas County Republican Party Chair Jennifer Stoddard Hajdu and Democratic State Representative Donna Howard of Austin.
Howard is also Chair of the Texas Women's Health Caucus, the largest caucus in the country focused on advancing women's health policy.
Representative Howard believes abortion and reproductive rights will have more impact on the political races this year than two years ago, after Roe v Wade was overturned.
Watch Jack's interview with State Representative Donna Howard:
Former Dallas County GOP Chair Jennifer Stoddard Hajdu believes Texans are more focused on kitchen-table issues.
Watch Jack's conversation with Jennifer Stoddard Hajdu:
New Texas poll
A new poll by UT and the Texas Politics Project released Sept. 6 shows former President Donald Trump with a 5% point lead over Vice President Kamala Harris in Texas, 49 to 44%.
9% say they want someone else, while 6% say they are undecided.
In the Senate race, the same poll shows two term Republican Ted Cruz has an eight percentage point lead over his Democratic challenger, North Texas Congressman Colin Allred with a 44 to 36% point lead.
Libertarian Ted Brown has 2%.
4% say they want someone else, while 14% say they are undecided.
The economy and inflation, along with border security remain the top concerns by Texans, with abortion far behind.
Even so, the poll shows nearly half, 49% believe abortion laws in Texas should be less strict.
In addition, 23% say they want abortion laws to be more strict, while 20% say the laws should be left where they are now.
9% say they don't know or have no opinion.
Tracking the battleground states
The Real Clear Politics average of polls in the seven battleground states shows the race for President has grown even tighter.
In Arizona, former President Donald Trump increased his lead over Vice President Kamala Harris from last week to 1% point.
In Nevada, Harris now leads Trump by 0.6% points.
She has also taken a slight lead in Georgia – 0.1% points.
In Wisconsin, Harris leads by 1.4% points, the largest margin in any of these seven states.
Her lead in Michigan has shrunk from last week to 1.1% points.
Pennsylvania, the biggest prize, is now officially tied.
In North Carolina, Trump clings to a lead of 0.7% points.
Political analysts say the presidential race will be won in the battleground states.
With this close of a race, the Director of Debate at SMU, Dr. Ben Voth, says the Presidential debate between Harris and Trump on Tuesday is seen as crucial.
Watch Jack's interview with Ben Voth from SMU:
Battle for Texas House Speaker's race heats up
The race for Texas House Speaker is intensifying in Austin.
The current Speaker Dade Phelan announced that former Texas Governor Rick Perry has joined his team as a Senior Advisor.
Perry campaigned for Phelan earlier this year during a polarizing, primary fight against two other candidates in his home district in the Beaumont area.
Phelan won in a runoff.
Phelan also recently hired a new Chief of Staff, Mike Toomey, a political veteran who's highly regarded around the Texas Capitol.
Also last week, a third Republican challenged Phelan for the position during the next legislative session starting in January.
Representative David Cook of Mansfield announced last week he's also running for the position.
Representatives Tom Oliverson of the Houston area and Shelby Slawson of Stephenville previously announced they're going for the position as well.
Travis County GOP Chair and Republican consultant Matt Mackowiak told Jack that Phelan's moves show this race is still very much open.
Watch Jack's interview with Matt Mackowiak: