Gwen Walz stops in Nebraska to speak on reproductive rights
OMAHA — Former Nebraska teacher Gwen Walz visited Omaha’s 2nd Congressional District on Saturday to emphasize the need for women and their reproductive rights allies to vote for Vice President Kamala Harris and her campaign Partner, Waltz’s husband.
Minnesota’s first lady became the first woman to step into the spotlight after Tuesday’s vice presidential debate between Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Ohio Republican Sen. Vance, the Republican nominee and former President Donald Trump’s running mate. Headlines from the weekend’s campaign.
Crowds wave signs at a reproductive rights rally in Omaha on Saturday. (Aaron Sandford/Nebraska Examiner)
Gwen Walz was joined by Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison, Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio, and Linda Sanchez, D-Calif. , the 45th stop on a national bus tour to swing states, also featuring “Friday Night Lights” actress Connie Britton.
Walz also visited the Omaha area with her husband in mid-August, shortly after Harris selected him as her running mate.
Gwen Walz, a former teacher and speech team coach at Union, seized on a lighter moment at the rally to make a political point. Britton had just watched 95-degree winds blow her speech off the stage. Waltz calls them “winds of change.”
She said voters need to hear more stories like Abby Waller of Omaha, who learned her pregnancy was no longer viable at 13 weeks and decided with her family to terminate it , Waller noted, that is no longer allowed in Nebraska.
Abortion fight on the ballot
Current Nebraska law prohibits abortion after 12 weeks of gestation. Several speakers promoted Initiative 439, a Nebraska ballot measure that would enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution.
Supporters of abortion restrictions are pushing for a competing ballot measure, Initiative 434, which would ban abortions after the first trimester of pregnancy, with some exceptions. It would also open the door to stricter bans in the future.
Minnesota First Lady Gwen Walz spoke at a reproductive rights rally in Omaha on Saturday. (Aaron Sandford/Nebraska Examiner)
“Kamala and Tim believe everyone should have the freedom to choose how to build our families,” Gwen Walz said. “Why do they feel that way? Because it’s our choice. Or we should have the freedom not to have children because it’s our choice.
Walz and other speakers, including Britton and Beatty, said women will not forget that it was Trump who prioritized the U.S. Supreme Court justices who would overturn Roe v. Wade and leave states to piece together Stricter abortion bans possible.
“He’s made it clear that if he’s re-elected, this is just the beginning,” Britton said of Trump. “Contraception, fertility treatments, tracking women’s bodies and a nationwide abortion ban, everything is on the table.”
Trump at center of fight
Trump told conservative viewers who want restrictions on abortion that he supports them. But he has recently begun softening his rhetoric on reproductive rights. He said he now supports leaving abortion decisions to the states.
Harris supports abortion rights and believes infringing on those rights is turning back the clock. “We’re not going back,” Harrison, the Democratic National Committee chairman from South Carolina, told a crowd of about 150 people at Metro Community College.
South Carolina Democratic National Committee Chairman Jaime Harrison speaks at a reproductive rights rally in Omaha for Vice President Kamala Harris. (Aaron Sandford/Nebraska Examiner)
During the current election cycle, Democrats have been investing more in party infrastructure in every state. Speaking to the Examiner after his remarks, Harrison said he was proud to see that strategy starting to pay off in places like Nebraska, “because when we compete anywhere, we win. “
He said he was particularly inspired by the performance of state Sen. Tony Vargas in his second district council election against U.S. Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska. Harrison said Vargas appears poised to help Democrats take back the House, in part because of Bacon’s opposition to abortion.
“For years, people have excluded Nebraska from the Democratic Party,” he said. “Democrats can win an electoral vote. We’re going to flip the House. Who knows what’s going to happen in the Senate races?
Liz Houston, a spokesperson for Trump’s Nebraska campaign, said Saturday’s event cannot “hide the reality that the dangerously liberal Harris-Walz agenda is something Nebraskans simply cannot afford.” ”.
“President Trump and Senator Vance will lower taxes, protect our borders, and put hard-working Americans first, while Harris and Walz champion Congress,” Houston said in a campaign statement Saturday. Disastrous policies that bankrupted our country.
confusion and chaos
On October 1, 2024, Republican vice presidential candidate Ohio Republican Senator JD Vance and Democratic vice presidential candidate Minnesota Governor Tim Walz participated in a debate held at the CBS Broadcast Center in New York City. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Beatty said Trump has forced women to endure chaos, chaos and cruelty as they seek their rights. Sanchez and others shared stories of women in conservative-led states being forced to wait until their health was at risk to receive care.
“It doesn’t have to be this way,” Beatty said.
“Women are not stupid,” Sanchez said. “They know this election is about whether women are free to make decisions about their bodies, and Trump and Vance are afraid they’ll vote like this.”
After the rally, Waltz and Britton visited young women eating ice cream at Ted and Wally’s in Benson. Walz and Harrison were scheduled to attend the Ben Nelson Gala, the Nebraska Democratic Party’s annual fundraiser, in Omaha on Saturday night.
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