By Trevor Hunnicutt, Gabriella Borter and Georgina McCartney
HOUSTON (Reuters) – Kamala Harris and Donald Trump took a detour from barnstorming in a state battle that will decide the November election with a stop in Texas, the first conservative state to implement a near-total abortion ban.
Texas hasn’t supported a Democratic president since 1976, and Republican Trump will almost certainly win the state’s 40 electoral college votes.
But Democrats are betting that it will provide a strong background for Vice President Harris to talk about abortion rights in the last day before the November 5 election.
Superstar singer Beyonce, who was born in Houston, captivated the crowd by introducing Harris, who came on stage for a recording of Beyonce’s song “Freedom”, which made her campaign anthem. But he didn’t sing.
Harris spoke about the danger that former President Trump and Republicans could grant abortion rights across the country if he is elected, campaign sources said, and was joined by women who suffered after the Texas anti-abortion ordinance was passed and their families.
“Texas, what’s happening in this state and our country is a health care crisis, and Donald Trump is the architect,” Harris said.
Texas passed its first law in September 2021 banning abortions after six weeks and allowing anyone to sue the offending abortion patient and those who assisted them.
The U.S. Supreme Court, with a conservative majority formed by Trump’s judicial appointments, allowed the law to stand, and later eliminated federal abortion rights by overturning Roe v. Wade in June 2022.
Between personal stories of abortion-related tragedies, and before Beyonce took the stage, the rally turned into a dance party, with people swaying and singing along to the DJ.
As Beyonce appeals to a younger crowd, 91-year-old Willie Nelson shows he still has cachet in his native Texas.
“Are we ready to speak Madam President?” Nelson asked the crowd before launching into “Mammas Don’t Let Your Baby Grow Up to Be Cowboys,” which the audience sang along to.
They closed with “On the Road Again”
Trump also campaigned in Texas on Friday, stopping in Austin to record an episode of “The Joe Rogan Experience,” a popular podcaster with tens of millions of social media followers, mostly men.
After a three-hour interview with Rogan in Texas, Trump arrived late to a rally in the state of Michigan.
“We have a war going on and he’s out partying,” Trump said Friday night, referring to Israel’s attack on Iran.
In an interview with Rogan, Trump again suggested he would favor eliminating the income tax and replacing the lost revenue with tariffs.
“Are you just floating the idea of getting rid of the income tax and replacing it with a rate? Are we serious about it,” asked Rogan.
“Yes, of course. Why not?” Trump replied.
Harris’ team has been in contact with Rogan’s program about a possible appearance, but the schedule doesn’t work out, spokesman Ian Sams said on MSNBC on Thursday.
Trump has been losing women voters since Harris became the Democratic nominee, polls show, even though the two are in tight races in battleground states.
Harris led Trump 49% to 36%, or 13 percentage points, among female voters in a Reuters/Ipsos poll published in late August, compared to a 9-point lead in a poll conducted in July.
Trump has taken credit for appointing the judge who helped overturn Roe v. Wade.
Since winning the Republican primary earlier this year, he has sought support from moderate and independent voters, saying he will not support a national ban on abortion and that individual states should be free to restrict abortion as they choose.
He asked for an exception to any ban to cover incidents of rape and incest or to protect the health of the mother. However, Trump said in August he would vote against an amendment in his home state of Florida to protect abortion rights that would have lifted a ban on abortions six weeks, before many women know they are pregnant.
A majority of Americans disagreed with the Supreme Court overturning Roe, sparking a wave of Democratic wins in the 2022 midterm elections and leaving Republicans scrambling to find a winning message on the issue.
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Texas Democratic Senate candidate Colin Allred also attended Harris’s rally, as Democrats seek to provide a boost to defeat Republican Sen. Ted Cruz.
Harris spearheaded the Biden administration’s reproductive rights initiative and made the issue a cornerstone of the presidential campaign.
Democrats have highlighted personal stories to show the impact of abortion, which is almost entirely banned in 16 states.
Before the Houston trip, her campaign released an ad featuring a Texas woman who was denied an emergency abortion when her water broke at 16 weeks in 2022 and who later nearly died of sepsis.
An analysis by JAMA Pediatrics, a medical journal, found that Texas experienced a greater increase in infant mortality than the rest of the US after implementing the abortion ban, and preliminary reports indicated that Texas also experienced a significant increase in maternal mortality.