Gov. Tim Walz (D-Minn.) said the “disconnect” of people who plan to vote to codify abortion in their own state but still vote for Republicans for Congress and the White House is “dangerous.”
“This is troubling to me: Folks who are going to vote to protect abortion on amendments in states like Montana, but are then going to vote for the Republicans. That disconnect is very dangerous,” the Democratic vice presidential nominee said on Thursday’s episode of the “We Can Do Hard Things” podcast.
Abortion-related questions are on the ballot in 10 states this November in states like Colorado, Maryland, Montana and Nebraska.
“We need to explain to people that you may codifying it in your state constitution, but if you’re electing Republicans to the United States Senate, they will simply change and have the Supreme Court change it at the federal level and we will have a national ban,” Walz continued. “I get this a lot: ‘Well, I’m just not that into politics.’ My response on that is, ‘Too bad; politics is into you and here’s what you need to know about it.’”
“We’ve got our work cut out for us on this because that’s a disturbing trend for me,” Walz said. “We need to codify it at the federal level. We need to get it back in. We need to make sure it’s ironclad.”
He then encouraged listeners to vote for Vice President Kamala Harris in order to prevent Donald Trump from selecting more Supreme Court justices.
“They’ll put in people that will be making decisions for our grandchildren,” he said.
Vice President Kamala Harris has said that, if she is elected, she plans to sign a law to “restore reproductive freedom” and she suggested former President Trump is to blame for the deaths of women who couldn’t access abortion care.
In April, Trump bragged about eliminating abortion rights after he appointed three Supreme Court justices who helped to overturn Roe v. Wade, which guaranteed the constitutional right to abortion, in 2022. The former president has gone back and forth on whether he would support a national abortion ban. His running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, has also been inconsistent with his stance on a national abortion ban.