House Democratic candidates make abortion access top focus of '24 campaigns

Arizona Democrat Kirsten Engel ran and lost a 2022 House race for a seat representing the Tucson area. She's seeking a rematch against now-incumbent Republican Rep. Juan Ciscomani.

She thinks this time will be different.

"My opponent now has a voting record," she told NPR, referencing Ciscomani's vote for a GOP spending bill that would back FDA rules enacted after the 2022 Supreme Court Dobbs decision that make it easier to access the abortion-inducing drug mifepristone. She says abortion is a top-of-mind issue for voters in her district: "It doesn't matter if you're a Democrat, an independent or a Republican. Women feel very deeply about this issue, that their rights have been stripped away."

Engle is part of a broader campaign efforts Democrats are launching across the country to make abortion rights a central focus of their effort to win control of the U.S. House. Democrats need a likely net gain of five seats to take control from Republicans. It's been two years since the Supreme Court threw the legal power to determine abortion access back to the states, and a series of new restrictive abortion laws have taken effect across the country.

The issue is more likely to resonate in campaigns in states like Arizona if a proposed ballot initiative to protect abortion rights in the state's constitution is put to voters on November's ballot. Abortion rights advocates are working on a similar ballot initiative in Florida, where Republicans under Gov. Ron DeSantis enacted a six-week abortion ban last year.

Democratic candidate Whitney Fox says the issue will be a driving force of her campaign to oust freshman Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna from her Tampa-area seat. Luna is a vocal opponent to abortion rights and has