On the second anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision overturning the nationwide constitutional right to an abortion, Rep. Andy Kim (D-Moorestown) and Sue Altman – the Democratic nominees in New Jersey’s two most closely watched elections this year – are both hitting their Republican opponents over their stances on abortion.
Altman, the Democratic standard-bearer against Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-Westfield) in the highly competitive 7th congressional district, held an event in Rahway today with Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-Montclair) to push for the codification of Roe v. Wade and the ousting of Republicans who stand in the way.
“In this election cycle, Republicans like Tom Kean Jr. are betting … that we aren’t paying attention,” Altman said at the rally. “I am confident that the women in this district, that the men who stand up for women and family rights in this district, will be on site in November, they will vote, and we will vote out Tom Kean Jr.”
Kean has said in the past that he’s pro-choice, but the freshman congressman has still voted for some amendments and bills in the House that would limit abortion (and supported the strongly pro-life Mike Johnson for House Speaker). That, Altman argued, shows why the 7th district needs new representation.
“There is no evidence that Tom Kean Jr. will fight back against a national abortion ban,” Altman said. “In fact, he’s signaled that he’s okay with leaving it up to state legislatures, which is a very dangerous thing for women around this country indeed.”
Kim, meanwhile, is running for the U.S. Senate against Republican developer Curtis Bashaw – and possibly incumbent Senator Bob Menendez, who has filed to run as an independent. Like Kean, Bashaw has worked to find a middle ground on abortion, saying that he thinks that abortion should be legal but that the Supreme Court made the correct decision in Dobbs when it left the decision up to the states; Bashaw also noted that he believes abortion is a settled issue in New Jersey, where strong state-level protections are already in place.
Bashaw’s stance, Kim said today, is not tenable when so many Republicans are committed to limiting abortion access both on a state and federal level.
“It’s shameful that Curtis Bashaw wholeheartedly supports the Supreme Court’s horrific Dobbs decision that took away women’s rights,” Kim said in a statement. “Let’s be clear here – Bashaw voted for Trump, would vote for extremist anti-abortion Supreme Court justices if elected to the Senate, and opposes national legislation to protect reproductive rights for women. He has no place representing New Jersey families in the Senate.”
During the 2022 midterm elections, which took place just a few months after the Dobbs decision, Democrats around the country ran heavily on a message of protecting abortion – and ended up overperforming expectations in many key races.
That year, Kim ran ads slamming his Republican opponent, Bob Healey, over his support for Dobbs, and ended up winning by double digits; Kean was likewise hit by then-Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-Ringoes) on abortion, though he still won by three percentage points. Kim and Altman, who stepped up to run for the 7th district after Malinowski passed on a rematch, are gearing up to run on a similar message this year.
Sherrill, whose own 2022 campaign also focused heavily on abortion, said that electing new members of Congress like Altman is the best way to get her own longstanding proposals to safeguard and expand abortion access signed into law.
“I need champions of reproductive health care to join me in Washington so we can make sure that not only do we protect the rights we have in New Jersey, but we make sure women across the country have those same rights,” she said. “As the Republican majority again and again and again attacks basic things like contraception and IVF, I’m here trying to get Sue Altman into Congress so we can have the majority and protect those basic rights.”