Alabama Democrat flips GOP seat after campaigning against threats to IVF
Democrat Marilyn Lands defeated Republican Teddy Powell on Tuesday in a nationally watched special election for a GOP-held seat in the Alabama House of Representatives. While Republicans will still retain their supermajority in the chamber, both parties were paying close attention to see whether a ruling from the Alabama Supreme Court that threatened access to in vitro fertilization could be a winning issue in competitive areas like this suburban Huntsville constituency. Donald Trump carried the 10th District by a slim 49-48 spread in 2020, while voters favored Republican David Cole over Lands 52-45 two years later. Lands focused intently on reproductive rights in her campaign to replace Cole, who resigned last summer after getting convicted for voter fraud. "It's shameful that today women have fewer freedoms than I did two decades ago," she said in one spot excoriating the state's near-total abortion ban. Lands, a mental health counselor, also argued the legislature didn't do enough to protect IVF when it passed a law earlier this month that shields clinics from liability. Powell, a member of the City Council in Madison, adopted a very different strategy. He instead focused on issues like infrastructure and downplayed the importance of reproductive rights. "It's certainly an issue that needs to be dealt with," he told Politico, "but not our top issue. I don't think that this is the issue that wins or loses the race." That calculus turned out to be wrong, and Democrats are hoping that Powell will be just the first of many Republicans to pay the price at the ballot box this year.
JoriPress
Democrat Marilyn Lands defeated Republican Teddy Powell on Tuesday in a nationally watched special election for a GOP-held seat in the Alabama House of Representatives.
While Republicans will still retain their supermajority in the chamber, both parties were paying close attention to see whether a ruling from the Alabama Supreme Court that threatened access to in vitro fertilization could be a winning issue in competitive areas like this suburban Huntsville constituency. Donald Trump carried the 10th District by a slim 49-48 spread in 2020, while voters favored Republican David Cole over Lands 52-45 two years later.
Lands focused intently on reproductive rights in her campaign to replace Cole, who resigned last summer after getting convicted for voter fraud. "It's shameful that today women have fewer freedoms than I did two decades ago," she said in one spot excoriating the state's near-total abortion ban. Lands, a mental health counselor, also argued the legislature didn't do enough to protect IVF when it passed a law earlier this month that shields clinics from liability.
Powell, a member of the City Council in Madison, adopted a very different strategy. He instead focused on issues like infrastructure and downplayed the importance of reproductive rights. "It's certainly an issue that needs to be dealt with," he told Politico, "but not our top issue. I don't think that this is the issue that wins or loses the race."
That calculus turned out to be wrong, and Democrats are hoping that Powell will be just the first of many Republicans to pay the price at the ballot box this year.
