Tom Barrett is wrong.
If you’re anything like me, you’ve been asking yourself the same question for the last two years. “When will Tom Barrett finally fuck the fuck off?”
It’s my morning mantra and it is my evening prayer, “Lord, give this man a new hobby.” Unfortunately the divine Upstairs seems to have their mighty hands full with a variety of international genocides and other horrible shit, which means we’ll have to deal with Tom directly. Absent a bait enticing enough to lure him back to his tribe of lizard people, the voters of Michigan will once again have to defeat him at the ballot box.
In a recent interview with the Washington Examiner, Tom Barrett revealed that he doesn’t believe abortion will figure prominently in his 2024 race for Michigan’s 7th Congressional District. Summoning his hottest, most incisive takes such as, “my opponent is not a woman,” and the fact that Prop 3 was passed two years ago (*nodding slowly*), Barrett seems to believe that his extreme stance against women’s civil rights won’t march him right back to a second round of defeat.
Instead, he cited Slotkin’s ability to out-fundraise him as the main reason he lost, saying he thinks he’ll do better in ‘24 against the presumed Democratic nominee Curtis Hertel. But wait, let’s take that line of reasoning for a little walk down the street (holding its hand, so it doesn’t run into traffic), doesn’t Slotkin’s ability to outraise Tom speak to his unpopularity?
Political fundraising is complicated, so I’ve provided a short list of reasons why Slotkin outraised Barrett:
Her policies were more popular.
Specifically, she didn’t run on the fatalistic campaign slogan that no woman in Michigan will ever forget, “I am 100% PRO LIFE — NO EXCEPTIONS.” Then, she didn’t make a futile attempt to walk back that undeniably unpopular stance, right before midterms, while the press had a field day with her hypocrisy.
Tom’s head is still buried in the sand if he thinks that two years of abortion protections in Michigan are enough to make people of this state slow down. We led the country in enshrining abortion access for Michiganders, as part of seven states that have so far passed protections into their constitutions. And this summer promises to be once again filled with more powerful, nationwide reproductive rights organizing in at least nine states, including deep red states like Arizona, Florida, Missouri, and Arkansas. Far from moving on from the conversation, states around the country will actually be looking to Michigan for a winning playbook from Prop 3, which passed by 57% of the vote.
The Guerilla Politic learned so much while leading social media for this winning campaign and supporting their field team on the ground, and we are continuing to work to advance repro rights initiatives!
Another important place where abortion is very much part of the election process in Michigan is in the soon-to-be-vacant seat of Debbie Stabenow. As Republicans line up for the primary, The Gander Newsroom has reported that each of the Republican hopefuls have expressed their support for rolling back abortion rights. Even though we’ve protected our abortion rights here in Michigan, a federal ban will overrule those efforts and put us right back where our grandmothers started.
So actually, Tom, abortion is again on the ballot in Michigan this year. When put to a direct vote of the electorate, it's an issue that has not lost. And in 2024, 12% of voters say abortion is the most important issue to them, not to mention the 86% of Americans who support health care for women undergoing pregnancy complications like miscarraige. Anti-abortion extremists like Tom Barrett are not only out of touch about the issues, they are completely delusional about their ability to represent the people of the United States.
We’ve been thinking about abortion access since Trump took office, and frankly, we will never tire of talking about abortion access, even if Republicans like Tom Barrett want to move on.
We exist to help progressive candidates run for office and WIN. If you share our views and want to design a better democracy this year, let’s talk.
Love,
The Guerrilla Politic