These groups often traded the rights of people on the margins in exchange for limited abortion access and a promise that they would fix it eventually.
As primary season enters full swing, we’re beginning to get a clearer picture of which states will play a key role this fall. None is more critical for Democrats’ hopes of retaking the Senate than Maine , where a.
Democrats view Maine as a rare opportunity to flip a seat that’s a must-win for a future Senate majority under a potential Democratic president in 2029—or a central part of an, any path to reviving Americans’ reproductive freedom has been particularly vulnerable to the 60-vote filibuster. So it may seem curious that multiple reproductive rights groups have endorsed a candidate in the Maine primary who has spoken out in favor of the Senate filibuster, which would inevitably doom legislation to protect abortion rights should Democrats retake the White House., who at 78 would be the oldest freshman senator ever elected. Her top competitor is Marine veteran and oyster farmer, Mills not only told reporters she wanted to retain the filibuster but cited a false justification. “When it comes to Trump appointing 200 judges with very questionable qualifications, I would want to have a say in those judgeships, for instance,” thethe Bangor Daily News in October. The supermajority threshold to end debate and hold a vote hasn’t applied to district or appeals court judges. of then-Sen. Kyrsten Sinema over her refusal to reform the Senate rule to pass voting rights legislation. A spokesperson for EMILY’s List declined to comment on whether its filibuster stance has changed since 2022, while a spokesperson for Reproductive Freedom for All claimed that its position had not changed. Both declined to comment on how filibuster reform factors into their organizations’ current endorsement criteria.In a statement, EMILY’s List chief communications officer Amanda Sherman Baity called Mills “an unwavering, battle-tested champion of reproductive freedom” and contrasted her record with that of Collins. Mills “doesn’t just talk about protecting abortion rights, she’s used the power of her office to defend and expand abortion access in Maine. EMILY’s List knows she’ll bring that same grit and determination to protecting reproductive rights in the U.S. Senate,” Sherman Baity said. The Reproductive Freedom for All spokesperson referred Slate to its December, in which President and CEO Mini Timmaraju said, “With abortion on the line nationwide, we are proud to endorse Gov. Mills, who is the only candidate in this race with an unimpeachable record of expanding access and removing barriers to reproductive care.”support reforming the filibuster. “The Governor believes the filibuster is the only thing standing between Republicans and a nationwide abortion ban,” spokesperson Tommy Garcia said. “But she supports serious reforms to the filibuster—including lowering the vote threshold required to break a filibuster—in order to protect and advance civil rights like fully restoring reproductive freedom nationwide.” The campaign did not respond to a question about Mills falsely asserting that the rule still applied to judicial nominations. Mills’ updated stance on this issue is to the right of former President Joe Biden, whoWhile it’s true that Republicans could try to pass a federal abortion ban if they were to reform the filibuster, Senate Majority Leader John Thune said this week that his caucusto do so on the SAVE Act. This suggests that the GOP would be loath to force Democrats to use ato oppose a nationwide abortion ban, which is even less popular than voting restrictions. If Democrats are the only party with an appetite to reform the filibuster, they must use it to make structural changes that address the rot in our democracy—and prevent unrepresentative Republican trifectas that can enact unpopular policies. That means voting rights legislation, campaign finance reform, statehood for D.C., and Supreme Court expansion.However, the filibuster also stands in the way of legislation that would overturn state abortion bans should Democrats regain a trifecta. The party faces a structural disadvantage in the Senate, thanks to less-populous states getting as many votes as, for example, California and New York. Even if Mills’ magic number is, say, 55 instead of 60, Democrats would need a blowout to reach that benchmark. After all,of the national Senate vote in 2020 resulted in just 50 seats. Lowering the threshold to any number above 50 could stillif Democrats “get back into power, we need to get rid of it and we need to start passing legislation that’s good for the American people.” The Platner campaign did not respond to a request for comment on these endorsements or on Mills’ public statements about the filibuster.—64 percent to 26 percent. That same poll showed Platner beating Collins in the general by 11 points, while Mills was up only 1 point, well within the margin of error. . Mills has traditional credentials: She was first elected to the state Legislature in 2002 and served eight years as attorney general before becoming governor in 2019. Mills has won statewide elections, and winning this seat is the most important thing to Democrats in the short term because, on paper, it is winnable: Collins is thein a state that Vice President Kamala Harris won in 2024. Collins did manage to fend off her previous challenger, state Sen. Sara Gideon, in somewhat of an upset in 2020—despite trailing in—an event for which Collins was instrumental, thanks to her votes to confirm Justices Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, and especially Brett Kavanaugh—and her approval rating is nowEfforts to protect abortion rights in Congress have faltered for years, due to a combination of the filibuster and general Democratic tentativeness. Only after the Supreme Court signaled that the end of, a bill called the Women’s Health Protection Act. The proposal was initially introduced in 2013 but had never received a full House vote until the federal right was on life support. The bill. The bill didn’t overcome the 60-vote filibuster either time, but it would have failed even a simple majority passage because West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin joined Republicans in opposition. Democrats nominally had 50 senators and the presidency, but they were powerless to respond to the end ofAt their core, Reproductive Freedom for All and EMILY’s List are pragmatic organizations, says Mary Ziegler, a professor at the University of California–Davis School of Law andin the history and politics of reproductive rights. “I think they think that Janet Mills is the only one who can win,” Ziegler told me. “They think that it’d be better to have Janet Mills than Susan Collins, and they’re holding their nose.” Mills has publicly pledged to serveIt’s also noteworthy that Mills was recruited by Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. The DSCC formed aThe most gracious interpretation of all this is that these groups believe that Mills will do what’s necessary for abortion rights if the moment presents itself—they might have even discussed her then-private support for incremental changes to the Senate rules.. The Arizona senator said she supported abortion rights, but when push came to shove, she didn’t support taking the steps necessary to protect them at the federal level. “That’s potentially the fallacy,” Ziegler said. “It’s hard to know until the vote arrives. Because I’m sure they think that if they really needed Janet Mills, that she would do the right thing.” Another lesson of the Biden era, though, is the misguided notion that because there’s still a semblance of abortion access, there’s no emergency, Ziegler notes. Which is to say: Mills, or other more classic Democratic senators, might not feel the push to do the right thing. This would be a real problem. Post-with such laws, and thanks to Mills’ signature, Maine is one of them. It’s unclear what will happen to those laws in the courts, however.There’s a related idea that nothing worse will unfold because abortion restrictions won’t pass this Congress, and because Republicans are expected to lose control in a matter of months. So while the failure of the 2022 bill was bad, to some lawmakers, “it hasn’t been as existential as it could have been,” Ziegler said.that could upend access nationwide. “It’s just a misunderstanding of how many things are coming into the courts,” which are stacked with Trump judges, she said. Abortion providers are bracing for a ruling in anotes that he supports “a strong federal guarantee of the right to choose.” Mills’ site features no such issues page, and though she has outlinedas governor, she pledged only to prevent further retrenchment in Congress and did not mention proactive legislation. She has said she will “fight tooth and nail against any effort to further roll back these fundamental protections.”. Leading groups like Reproductive Freedom for All, Planned Parenthood, and the Center for Reproductive Rights have aof making policy and litigation decisions based on polling, rather than pushing the public where it needs to go to. Infuriating examples include not initially challenging the Hyde Amendment ban on Medicaid coverage of abortion, not uniformly suing states over abortion bans These groups and others often traded the rights of people on the margins in exchange for limited abortion access and a promise that they would fix it eventually. What that has gotten us so far is the fall ofand more than a dozen state bans. At the end of the day, it’s not at all surprising to see establishment groups support an establishment candidate who seems interested more in nibbling around the edges of the federal status quo than in storming the gates over the loss of the rights those very groups were established to
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