WASHINGTON _ A leading anti-abortion group is undertaking a major effort to help one of the Republican Party's rising congressional stars, worried that Donald Trump's presence on the ticket could depress turnout among a key constituency _ pro-life voters.
Susan B. Anthony List, acting through its Super PAC Women Speak Out, is preparing a combination of digital ads, phone calls, and in-person voter contacts to support Rep. Mia Love, the Utah congresswoman locked in a tough race against a well-funded Democratic opponent.
The effort will target voters who oppose abortion rights, encouraging them to turn out on Election Day to support the unabashedly pro-life Love.
Normally, these voters would be reliable supporters the congresswoman. But officials with SBA List say that Trump's prior support for abortion rights, and misconceptions about where he stands on the issue now, have contributed to a pervasive lack of enthusiasm within the pro-life movement _ one that could cause collateral damage to down-ballot Republicans running alongside him.
"It could be a season where a lot of voters stay home unless we take the argument directly to them," said Marjorie Dannenfelser, SBA List president. "What they need to know is their lingering concerns about the presidential shouldn't affect their vote in the House race."
The group plans to spend $100,000 on targeted digital ads and phone calls in support of Love, officials said. It also aims to have canvassers knock on 35,000 doors in the first-term lawmaker's 4th Congressional District by Election Day.
Love faces Democratic nominee Doug Owens, whom she defeated in 2014 by five percentage points, capturing just over 50 percent of the total vote. The Rothenberg & Gonzales Political Report/Roll Call rates the race Republican Favored.
SBA List's support for Love, the only House member it plans to support with an independent expenditure this election, is about more than Trump.
Dannenfelser said she wants to show the group can support a close ally after successfully working to defeat Rep. Renee Ellmers's re-election bid earlier this year, the first time in SBA List's history that it endorsed a male GOP candidate over a Republican woman. (SBA List tries to elect women, usually Republicans, who oppose abortion rights, acting as a counterweight to the pro-choice Democratic group EMILY's List.)
But the group also is deploying its ground game in three states that feature a competitive presidential and Senate race North Carolina, Florida, and Ohio. There, it plans to directly engage pro-life voters to support Trump despite his past apostasies on the subject.
Dannenfelser said she's satisfied with Trump's current position on abortion rights, especially relative to the one held by Hillary Clinton. The issue, she said, is letting the rank-and-file know that Trump promises to govern like a pro-life conservative.
"Pro-life voters need an extra spark of reassurance that Trump is on their side," Dannenfelser said. "They need that in the presidential, we know that, that's why we're doing it."
