CNN Commentator Predicts Texas Abortion Law Will Hurt Republicans in Virginia Governor’s Race

Democratic strategist and CNN commentator Paul Begala predicted that the Texas abortion law would hurt Republicans’ chances in the Virginia governor’s race, by helping motivate voters to reject the GOP candidate out of concern that he would sign a similar law.

Begala made the comments on CNN Newsroom with Alisyn Camerota and Victor Blackwell, telling the show’s hosts that Republicans had done an effective job at winning in Texas.

“They organize, they motivate,” said Begala. “I respect that as a professional. Democrats need to get in the game and do better.”

Texas Democrats had gotten “close” with Beto O’Rourke’s campaign challenging Sen. Ted Cruz (D-TX) “but he still lost by 2%,” he noted.

In Virginia, Begala said, Democratic candidate Terry McAuliffe was already running an ad on abortion rights against Glenn Youngkin, the Republican.

Begala called the polling firm for McAuliffe’s campaign and asked what they were seeing regarding the abortion issue, and “by more than 2-1 Virginians want to protect the right to choose.”

So, he concluded, “when that right is threatened and the Supreme Court looks like it’s going to take it away for everybody, I think it could hurt Republicans in Virginia first and then in Texas.”

Begala wasn’t alone in his view that abortion would be a factor in the Virginia gubernatorial election. Youngkinis already being questioned about the Texas law. Youngkin has repeatedly declared his pro-life beliefs on the campaign trail and promised GOP voters that he would “go on offense” against abortion if he were elected governor.

According to report by the Huffington Post, neither Youngkin nor his campaign spokesperson would answer questions about whether he would sign a Texas-style abortion law if he won. Avoiding the topic seems to be a campaign strategy; the Post noted that Youngkin “was caught on camera at a July campaign event telling voters that he shies away from the subject because he needs to win independent voters, whom polls show overwhelmingly favor abortion rights in Virginia.”

One key difference between Youngkin and the Texas Republicans: Youngkin has said that he supports exceptions to abortion restrictions in the case of rape, incest, and to protect the life of the mother. The Texas law does not contain such exceptions.

Watch the video above, via CNN.