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The Senate this week took up a bill that could punish physicians who fail to resuscitate infants born during an abortion. That in itself isn’t news — Democrats blocked the measure from moving forward, just as they have in the past. (The House is expected to vote on the legislation later today.)
The GOP framed the measure as a commonsense proposal that only Democratic extremists would reject. Democrats say the legislation is unnecessary and does not reflect the realities of abortion care in the United States; its sole purpose, they say, is to fire up Republicans’ anti-abortion base.
As our colleague Sandhya Raman reports, the bill is the first abortion-related restriction considered by Congress since the GOP won a governing trifecta in November. And it comes just as thousands of activists are descending on Washington for the annual March for Life on Friday.
“I’ve been in the pro-life movement for 50 years. I’ve never been more optimistic that people are finally recognizing that abortion is violence against children and that it’s violence against women too,” New Jersey Rep. Christopher H. Smith, the co-chair of the House Pro-Life Caucus, told Raman.
Yet, since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, Republicans have struggled to find their footing on the issue. During the 2024 campaign, GOP candidates up and down the ballot sought to neutralize the topic of abortion by stating their support for exceptions. But, Democrats say, now that Donald Trump is settling into the White House and Republicans hold the majority in both chambers of Congress, the GOP is dusting off its anti-abortion playbook.
“Of all the bills that we could be voting on right now, it is an absolute disgrace that Republicans are spending their first weeks in power attacking women, criminalizing doctors and lying about abortion,” Washington Sen. Patty Murray said on the floor.
Oregon Rep. Janelle Bynum, who flipped a GOP-held battleground district last fall, said she heard from untold numbers of female voters during the campaign who were worried about abortion access. Republicans’ targeting of reproductive rights is “foolishness,” the Democrat said, and does nothing to address maternal mortality and other women’s health concerns.
Starting gate
New Dems in a new cycle: Michigan Rep. Haley Stevens, the new chair of the New Democrat Coalition Action Fund, sees her group of center-left Democrats as key to winning control of the House in 2026.
Governing, not grandstanding: The Republican Governance Group is ready to move beyond the in-fighting and legislative paralysis that has dogged the House Republican Conference over the past two years, its leaders told us last week.
A new senator for the Buckeye State: Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine appointed his longtime ally, Lt. Gov. Jon Husted, to fill the Senate seat vacated by Vice President JD Vance. At a news conference in Columbus last week, Husted said he struggled with the decision but ultimately concluded that representing his state in Congress was too big an opportunity to pass up.
Biggs eyes big new role: Republican Rep. Andy Biggs has filed paperwork with the Arizona secretary of state’s office signaling his interest in running for governor. Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs, who hasn’t yet said whether she will seek reelection next year, is a top Republican target in a purple state that swung toward Trump in November.
Crossing the aisle: The 12 Democratic senators who voted with Republicans this week to pass a GOP-led immigration bill include those gearing up for competitive reelection campaigns next year and their home-state colleagues. The bill, known as the Laken Riley Act, passed the House on Wednesday (with support from 46 Democrats) and next heads to Trump’s desk — the first bill Congress has sent him in his second administration, as Chris Johnson reports.
ICYMI
Harris-district Republicans: Three GOP House members who represent districts carried by Kamala Harris and whose votes will be key to helping enact Trump’s agenda met with the president at the White House on Wednesday. Reps. Don Bacon of Nebraska, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and Mike Lawler of New York didn’t have much to say after the meeting. (Fitzpatrick had told reporters ahead of the confab that they intended to keep the contents private.)
#NHSEN: Scott Brown, the former Republican senator from Massachusetts who moved north to challenge New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen in 2014, was in D.C. this week for meetings with Senate Majority Leader John Thune and NRSC Chair Tim Scott as he weighs a second challenge to Shaheen. Republican Jack Franks, a workforce housing developer, told WMUR that he’s also considering a run.
RIP: Former Planned Parenthood leader Cecile Richards died of brain cancer Monday at age 67. The feminist activist and daughter of the late Texas Gov. Ann Richards was also a veteran of Democratic politics. She got her start at 16, when she worked on a campaign to elect Roe v. Wade attorney Sarah Weddington to the Texas Legislature, according to The 19th.
Guv update, Take 2: In Ohio, Republican state Attorney General Dave Yost announced Thursday he’s running to succeed DeWine, who is ineligible for a third consecutive term. In South Carolina, Republican Rep. Nancy Mace is weighing a bid to succeed term-limited Gov. Henry McMaster next year, as is state Attorney General Alan Wilson, the son of GOP Rep. Joe Wilson. In Michigan, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson entered the race to replace Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a fellow Democrat who also faces term limits. And in Connecticut, Republican Erin Stewart, the mayor of New Britain, says she’ll make a decision about a gubernatorial run by the end of the month. Democratic incumbent Ned Lamont hasn’t yet said whether he’ll seek a third term.
The Patriot way: Josh Kraft, the president of the New England Patriots Foundation and son of team owner Robert Kraft, will run for mayor of Boston, Politico reports. Kraft is expected to kick off his campaign to unseat incumbent Michelle Wu in February. The election will be held in November, with a nonpartisan primary in September if more than two candidates qualify for the ballot.
#GA13: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that Georgia state Sen. Emanuel Jones has filed for the seat currently held by fellow Democrat David Scott. The longtime congressman has beaten back credible primary challengers the past two election cycles. He was until recently the top Democrat on the House Agriculture Committee but faced questions about his ability to continue to do that job amid reported health issues.
On the calendar: House Democrats will return to the Lansdowne Resort in Leesburg, Va., from March 12-14 for their annual issues conference, Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar announced Thursday.
What we’re reading
Age-old question: Politico spotlights a key question swirling around Iowa Sen. Charles E. Grassley: Is the 91-year-old chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee too old to lead a panel that’s key to implementing Trump’s agenda?
The Trump of it all: Virginia’s gubernatorial race this November will be an early test of how much Democrats should focus on Trump while campaigning, NOTUS reports.
Streaming Congress: A bipartisan and bicameral duo, Oregon Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden and Nebraska GOP Rep. Mike Flood, sent a letter to streaming service providers such as Fubo, Hulu and YouTube urging them to carry public affairs network C-SPAN, The Desk reports.
Getting out of DOGE: The Wall Street Journal looks at how tensions and philosophical differences between Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy culminated in the latter exiting from Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency effort. Ramaswamy is expected to announce a campaign for Ohio governor next week.
The count: 18.6 million
That’s how many Instagram followers were presented with a Trump-centric post proclaiming “America is BACK” shortly after noon Eastern time Monday because they had once decided to follow the official @POTUS account of Barack Obama and Joe Biden.
It was jarring to many of those followers (and those of the @VP handle) to suddenly be following a feed with different political messaging from just a day prior.
“Those accounts are managed by the White House so with a new administration, the content on those Pages changes,” Andy Stone, a Meta spokesman, posted on Instagram’s Threads platform. “This is the same procedure we followed during the last presidential transition.”
Only that was not what actually happened. Trump never took the @POTUS handle that had first been used by Obama, so there was no similar transition to Biden.
Since Monday, the makeup of the followers of @POTUS has shifted. Trump gained more than a million of his own followers in the 24 hours after taking office, boosting the total following of @POTUS to 20.3 million by Tuesday night. But as many Biden followers realized the switch and unfollowed, the handle’s total had dropped to just 16.1 million followers by noon Thursday.
Nathan’s notes
For anyone who thinks 2025 is an “off year,” think again, Roll Call elections analyst Nathan L. Gonzales writes. Past and future elections are already shaping legislative outcomes on Capitol Hill, and the initial midterm battlefield is coming into focus thanks to districts that split their tickets last fall.
Read more about the 13 House Democrats who represent districts that backed Trump in November and the three Republicans whose seats were carried by Harris, with fun asides about which cars Nathan picks to ferry these groups around.
Coming up
All eyes will be on Florida next week. House Republicans head to Trump Doral for their annual issues conference from Monday to Wednesday. And Tuesday is primary day for the special elections to fill the House seats vacated by a pair of Florida Republicans: former Rep. Matt Gaetz and recently resigned Rep. Michael Waltz, who is now Trump’s national security adviser.
Photo finish
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The post At the Races: March for Life brings abortion votes appeared first on Roll Call.
