A fitting end to this unexpectedly remarkable election year came last Saturday when three pro-life Republicans won the runoffs in Louisiana. National Right to Life-endorsed State Treasurer John Kennedy (R) bested Public Service Commissioner Foster Campbell (D), 61%-39%, in the open Senate seat.
In addition Capt. Clay Higgins (R) beat Public Service Commissioner Scott Angelle (R), 56%-44%, in the 3rd congressional district to replace pro-life Rep. Charles Boustany. (Both Higgins and Angelle are pro-life.) National Right to Life-endorsed State Rep. Mike Johnson (R) defeated Marshall Jones (D), 65%-35%, in the 4th congressional district to replace pro-life Rep. John Fleming.
This brings to 50 the number of NRL-supported candidates who won their elections, in spite of dismal warnings from major media and most political pundits.
To be fair, prior to the 2016 general election, prospects to maintain pro-life leadership in the U.S. Senate looked grim. To begin with there were many more pro-life Republicans up for re-election than pro-abortion Democrats.
Moreover, millions upon millions of dollars would be spent by pro-abortion groups to defeat our pro-life candidates. EMILY’s List, the extreme pro-abortion PAC that only works for Democrat women who support abortion for any reason, claimed to raise more than $60 million for the 2016 election cycle.
Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider, announced its political action committee would spend nearly $30 million targeting pro-life candidates. NARAL Pro-Choice America spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in digital ads targeting pro-life senate candidates in highly competitive races during the last weeks of the campaign.
Larry Sabato, a prominent political analyst, predicted a net gain of four Democratic seats in the U.S. Senate, thus leaving a 50-50 tie. The tie-breaking vote would be cast by the vice president, who (we were all told to expect) would be pro-abortion Sen. Tim Kaine. Others predicted the U.S. Senate would flip to pro-abortion Democratic leadership.
It looked impossible. But with your assistance, we proved otherwise.
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National Right to Life and its political entities, National Right to Life Political Action Committee and National Right to Life Victory Fund, were actively focused on 60 of the most competitive federal races overall: the Presidential race, twelve U.S. Senate races, and 47 races for the U.S. House of Representatives.
Despite the dire predictions and huge financial disparity, National Right to Life’s political entities won 10 of the 12 closely contested Senate races, or 83%.
In the most competitive pro-life/pro-abortion U.S. House races, National Right to Life political entities won 39 of the 47 races, again 83%. Overall, we won 50 of the 60 closest races in the country, once more, 83%.
Although you didn’t read this other than places such as NRL News Today, in a post-election poll taken by the polling company/Women Trend on November 8, 49% of all voters said that abortion affected their vote. How did they vote?
31% of those “voted for the candidates who oppose abortion (pro-life),” while only 18% “voted for the candidates who favor abortion (pro-choice).” This was a 13% advantage for the pro-life candidate.
EMILY’s List, Planned Parenthood, and NARAL Pro-choice America candidates had a huge financial advantage this election, but fortunately, the babies and their pro-life candidates had YOU.
For more about the impact of abortion on the 2016 elections, see “A National Referendum on Abortion” by Dr. David O’Steen, executive director of National Right to Life, which appears on page one.
LifeNews Note: Karen Cross is the political director for the National Right to Life Committee.
