How House Dems plan to use abortion ballot initiatives on the campaign trail

House Democrats are vowing to put abortion rights at the center of congressional campaigns in the aftermath of a Florida court ruling upholding a strict abortion law and allowing a ballot referendum.

Their campaign arm, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, argues in a new memo obtained first by POLITICO that abortion measures on the ballot in states with competitive House races “further guarantees that reproductive freedom will remain a driving issue for voters this November, putting vulnerable House Republicans and GOP candidates on the hook for their anti-abortion and anti-freedom positions.”

The DCCC is zeroing in on races in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada and New York — all states that could have an abortion measure on the ballot — with 18 races where Democrats are playing defense or hope to flip GOP-held districts. The party sees abortion as a potential swing-seat turnout booster, pointing to purple-district Rep. Sharice Davids’ (D-Kan.) 2022 win after an abortion referendum was on her state’s ballot and increased turnout in Ohio last cycle.

They’re also hoping to hitch vulnerable Republican incumbents to the GOP’s attempts to restrict abortion at a federal level, such as some House Republicans’ efforts to introduce national abortion bans.

“As ballot initiatives to protect abortion rights keep this issue at the forefront of voters’ minds, vulnerable Republicans will have to face the consequences for their unpopular anti-abortion, anti-freedom records,” the DCCC writes.

CLARIFICATION: This report has been updated to specify when in 2022 Kansas' abortion referendum took place.