Why Kamala Harris is Actively Campaigning Across Texas
The vice president is prioritizing Texas in the ongoing discussion about abortion rights.
TroibNews 
Donald Trump has issued a warning that if Kamala Harris is elected, the nation risks becoming like Detroit. In response, Harris is alerting voters that a Trump presidency could lead to a landscape resembling Texas instead.
This argument will be central to her message on Friday as she moves away from the campaign trail in swing states to mobilize supporters in solidly Republican Texas. The state has emerged not only as a battleground in the abortion-rights debate but also as a representation of the conservative policies that Harris and other Democrats believe could proliferate nationwide if Trump returns to power.
Essentially, Harris aims to transform Texas, long a stronghold of Republican politics, into a contrasting example. “If we don’t stop Donald Trump now, we’re going to have 50 Texases,” said Mini Timmaraju, president and CEO of Reproductive Freedom for All, who will attend Harris’s rally in Houston. “The tip of the spear of the crisis is Texas.”
Harris's trip is part of her strategy in the final week of the campaign to appeal to moderate Republican voters, especially suburban women, who may have reservations about supporting a Democrat despite their dislike for Trump. She will emphasize issues such as abortion and democracy to sway these voters.
The event itself, which will feature Houston native Beyoncé, provides Harris with an opportunity to engage with a large audience in a familiar atmosphere reminiscent of her 2019 presidential campaign launch in Oakland, where she drew an estimated crowd of 20,000.
During her rally, Harris is anticipated to focus on abortion rights, stressing how Trump’s three conservative Supreme Court justices have significantly impacted reproductive healthcare, particularly in conservative states like Texas. Although Texas is expected to support Trump in the upcoming election and isn't part of Harris's strategy for achieving 270 electoral votes, it serves as a poignant example where the implications of the Supreme Court's ruling have stirred discontent. A recent poll from the Texas Politics Project showed that 54 percent of likely voters believe Harris would handle abortion better than Trump, who garnered just 28 percent.
“Texas is not just a good showcase for how restrictive policies can get on abortion when you leave it to the states, but also the degree to which that kind of restrictive approach gets in front of — and does not align with — public opinion, including public opinion with a sizable share of Republicans,” stated Jim Henson, director of the Texas Politics Project and co-director of the University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll. “[Houston is] the biggest city in a state where even Republicans think that leaving it to the state produced a pretty bad result.”
Currently, Texas has some of the most stringent abortion laws nationwide, prohibiting abortion from the moment of conception, with severe penalties including up to 99 years in prison and fines of at least $100,000. The law does not provide exceptions for rape or incest, and women have been denied abortions even in life-threatening situations despite existing exceptions.
The Harris campaign sees Texas as a pivotal platform to highlight key issues as they approach the election, aiming to dominate the news cycle. “Texas is the stage and the audience is the battlegrounds. It definitely arrests people’s attention in a way that is hard to do by just going back to another battleground at this point in the cycle. This is our strategic way to break through the news,” explained a senior campaign official who wished to remain anonymous.
This aligns with Harris’s pattern of targeting states that epitomize negative policy outcomes during her vice presidency, even if Democrats are unlikely to win those states. Last year, she visited conservative Florida on what marked the 50th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, made an unexpected trip to Tennessee to discuss gun control, and criticized Florida's educational guidelines on teaching African American history.
Liz Cheney, the former Republican representative from Wyoming and current supporter of Harris, highlighted Texas's efforts to acquire medical records of women seeking out-of-state abortions during a campaign tour with Harris. “There are many of us around the country who have been pro-life, but who have watched what’s going on in our states since the Dobbs decision, and have watched state legislatures put in place laws that are resulting in women not getting the care they need,” Cheney said. “This is not an issue that we’re seeing break down across party lines, but I think we’re seeing people come together to say, what has happened to women, when women are facing situations where they can’t get the care they need?”
For the past two years, Republicans have grappled with how to effectively communicate on abortion following the implementation of various bans across the country, which has enabled Democrats to win crucial gubernatorial and legislative races. This issue presents such a vulnerability for Republicans that Bill Miller, a Texas GOP strategist, speculated that if the election revolved solely around abortion, Harris would win in Texas. “It’s a winning issue for her,” he noted. “If that were the only issue in this election, this election wouldn’t be close.”
In response, Trump has attempted to mitigate the impact of abortion by dismissing federal restrictions and asserting that the issue has returned to state jurisdiction after the fall of Roe. However, Harris's visit to Texas aims to illustrate the ramifications of this stance, with numerous women sharing their experiences of struggling to access emergency abortion care due to state bans.
Some of these women, including several from Texas, have become central figures in the campaign's effort to highlight the widespread impacts of these bans. Recently, the campaign unveiled a compelling ad depicting a Texas woman who was denied an abortion after experiencing a miscarriage at 16 weeks, which led to a life-threatening infection requiring extensive surgery. The ad feature her scar and images from her lengthy hospitalization, emphasizing her uncertain future regarding childbirth.
“Texas has been ground zero for Project 2025 in a lot of ways — and specific to reproductive rights,” remarked Amanda Zurawski, another Texas woman denied an abortion at 18 weeks until she developed a severe infection. “We’re in a perilous situation right now. We’re at a precipice in this country.”
While anti-abortion organizations have expressed sympathy for these stories, they have attributed the issues not to the laws but to physicians failing to provide care in emergencies. In instances where women have died from receiving abortion care, such as Amber Nicole Thuman in Georgia, opponents have blamed medication used in the process.
Democratic strategists in Texas contend that Harris's trip also allows her to draw a sharper contrast with Trump on issues beyond abortion as she seeks to appeal to moderate voters, showing that the GOP is moving away from the traditional party of leaders like George W. Bush and former Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison.
The Harris campaign is particularly focused on white women without college degrees, a demographic that internal polling indicates may be receptive to her message. A senior campaign official cited this group as “fueling the rise in female support for Harris.”
Texas has not leaned Democratic in a presidential election since Jimmy Carter in 1976 and is expected to deliver another victory for Trump in just over a week. For the past four years, Texas Republicans have embraced their role as adversaries to the Biden administration, challenging federal policies not only on reproductive rights but also on education, healthcare, and immigration.
Nevertheless, the close race between Republican Sen. Ted Cruz and his Democratic opponent, Rep. Colin Allred, has sparked some optimism among Texas Democrats who believe they can make inroads within the state. “Republicans have held every statewide office for the last 30 years, but the nature of who holds those offices has changed a lot in the last 10 years — and really since 2016,” stated Matt Angle, a veteran Democratic strategist in Texas. “Now, they reflect a much more destructive and a much more polarizing brand of extreme Republican.”
Sophie Wagner contributed to this report for TROIB News
This argument will be central to her message on Friday as she moves away from the campaign trail in swing states to mobilize supporters in solidly Republican Texas. The state has emerged not only as a battleground in the abortion-rights debate but also as a representation of the conservative policies that Harris and other Democrats believe could proliferate nationwide if Trump returns to power.
Essentially, Harris aims to transform Texas, long a stronghold of Republican politics, into a contrasting example. “If we don’t stop Donald Trump now, we’re going to have 50 Texases,” said Mini Timmaraju, president and CEO of Reproductive Freedom for All, who will attend Harris’s rally in Houston. “The tip of the spear of the crisis is Texas.”
Harris's trip is part of her strategy in the final week of the campaign to appeal to moderate Republican voters, especially suburban women, who may have reservations about supporting a Democrat despite their dislike for Trump. She will emphasize issues such as abortion and democracy to sway these voters.
The event itself, which will feature Houston native Beyoncé, provides Harris with an opportunity to engage with a large audience in a familiar atmosphere reminiscent of her 2019 presidential campaign launch in Oakland, where she drew an estimated crowd of 20,000.
During her rally, Harris is anticipated to focus on abortion rights, stressing how Trump’s three conservative Supreme Court justices have significantly impacted reproductive healthcare, particularly in conservative states like Texas. Although Texas is expected to support Trump in the upcoming election and isn't part of Harris's strategy for achieving 270 electoral votes, it serves as a poignant example where the implications of the Supreme Court's ruling have stirred discontent. A recent poll from the Texas Politics Project showed that 54 percent of likely voters believe Harris would handle abortion better than Trump, who garnered just 28 percent.
“Texas is not just a good showcase for how restrictive policies can get on abortion when you leave it to the states, but also the degree to which that kind of restrictive approach gets in front of — and does not align with — public opinion, including public opinion with a sizable share of Republicans,” stated Jim Henson, director of the Texas Politics Project and co-director of the University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll. “[Houston is] the biggest city in a state where even Republicans think that leaving it to the state produced a pretty bad result.”
Currently, Texas has some of the most stringent abortion laws nationwide, prohibiting abortion from the moment of conception, with severe penalties including up to 99 years in prison and fines of at least $100,000. The law does not provide exceptions for rape or incest, and women have been denied abortions even in life-threatening situations despite existing exceptions.
The Harris campaign sees Texas as a pivotal platform to highlight key issues as they approach the election, aiming to dominate the news cycle. “Texas is the stage and the audience is the battlegrounds. It definitely arrests people’s attention in a way that is hard to do by just going back to another battleground at this point in the cycle. This is our strategic way to break through the news,” explained a senior campaign official who wished to remain anonymous.
This aligns with Harris’s pattern of targeting states that epitomize negative policy outcomes during her vice presidency, even if Democrats are unlikely to win those states. Last year, she visited conservative Florida on what marked the 50th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, made an unexpected trip to Tennessee to discuss gun control, and criticized Florida's educational guidelines on teaching African American history.
Liz Cheney, the former Republican representative from Wyoming and current supporter of Harris, highlighted Texas's efforts to acquire medical records of women seeking out-of-state abortions during a campaign tour with Harris. “There are many of us around the country who have been pro-life, but who have watched what’s going on in our states since the Dobbs decision, and have watched state legislatures put in place laws that are resulting in women not getting the care they need,” Cheney said. “This is not an issue that we’re seeing break down across party lines, but I think we’re seeing people come together to say, what has happened to women, when women are facing situations where they can’t get the care they need?”
For the past two years, Republicans have grappled with how to effectively communicate on abortion following the implementation of various bans across the country, which has enabled Democrats to win crucial gubernatorial and legislative races. This issue presents such a vulnerability for Republicans that Bill Miller, a Texas GOP strategist, speculated that if the election revolved solely around abortion, Harris would win in Texas. “It’s a winning issue for her,” he noted. “If that were the only issue in this election, this election wouldn’t be close.”
In response, Trump has attempted to mitigate the impact of abortion by dismissing federal restrictions and asserting that the issue has returned to state jurisdiction after the fall of Roe. However, Harris's visit to Texas aims to illustrate the ramifications of this stance, with numerous women sharing their experiences of struggling to access emergency abortion care due to state bans.
Some of these women, including several from Texas, have become central figures in the campaign's effort to highlight the widespread impacts of these bans. Recently, the campaign unveiled a compelling ad depicting a Texas woman who was denied an abortion after experiencing a miscarriage at 16 weeks, which led to a life-threatening infection requiring extensive surgery. The ad feature her scar and images from her lengthy hospitalization, emphasizing her uncertain future regarding childbirth.
“Texas has been ground zero for Project 2025 in a lot of ways — and specific to reproductive rights,” remarked Amanda Zurawski, another Texas woman denied an abortion at 18 weeks until she developed a severe infection. “We’re in a perilous situation right now. We’re at a precipice in this country.”
While anti-abortion organizations have expressed sympathy for these stories, they have attributed the issues not to the laws but to physicians failing to provide care in emergencies. In instances where women have died from receiving abortion care, such as Amber Nicole Thuman in Georgia, opponents have blamed medication used in the process.
Democratic strategists in Texas contend that Harris's trip also allows her to draw a sharper contrast with Trump on issues beyond abortion as she seeks to appeal to moderate voters, showing that the GOP is moving away from the traditional party of leaders like George W. Bush and former Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison.
The Harris campaign is particularly focused on white women without college degrees, a demographic that internal polling indicates may be receptive to her message. A senior campaign official cited this group as “fueling the rise in female support for Harris.”
Texas has not leaned Democratic in a presidential election since Jimmy Carter in 1976 and is expected to deliver another victory for Trump in just over a week. For the past four years, Texas Republicans have embraced their role as adversaries to the Biden administration, challenging federal policies not only on reproductive rights but also on education, healthcare, and immigration.
Nevertheless, the close race between Republican Sen. Ted Cruz and his Democratic opponent, Rep. Colin Allred, has sparked some optimism among Texas Democrats who believe they can make inroads within the state. “Republicans have held every statewide office for the last 30 years, but the nature of who holds those offices has changed a lot in the last 10 years — and really since 2016,” stated Matt Angle, a veteran Democratic strategist in Texas. “Now, they reflect a much more destructive and a much more polarizing brand of extreme Republican.”
Sophie Wagner contributed to this report for TROIB News
