LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Massachusetts U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Tuesday rallied Nevada democrats to support Question 6, the abortion-rights constitutional amendment.
They also urged votes for incumbent Democratic Reps. Dina Titus, Susie Lee and Steven Horsford, and gubernatorial hopeful Aaron Ford, in a rally in an auditorium at UNLV's Greenspun Hall.
Meanwhile, Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson was set to rally in support of congressional candidates Carrie Buck, who is running to defeat Titus, and Marty O'Donnell, who is running against Lee.
Johnson has been stumping around the country to retain his House majority for the final two years of President Donald Trump's term.
WATCH | Elizabeth Warren, Gretchen Whitmer rally Nevada Democrats
But it was Trump's administration that prompted Warren to say a change was needed in the governor's mansion.
"It's time now to elect a governor," she said. "You've got to think about the fact that Donald Trump and these Republicans in Washington — they're coming. They've been coming for a long time. You remember the promise, Donald Trump? He was not going to do anything on abortion. Yeah, look where that's left us. Donald Trump promised lower costs on Day 1. Yeah, look where that's left us. Donald Trump, not going to start any wars. Look where that's left us."
Warren said health care is a human right, and that abortion was part of that.
"But here's the part I want to remind everyone: Whatever people's feelings are about abortion, never fool yourself. Wealthy women will always have access to abortion," she said. "So this becomes one more way to grind into the face of the poor, of working families, of people without power, and that's why it's so important to have legal protection that says everyone has the same access."
Whitmer said that abortion is also about economic opportunity and freedom.
"The most important economic decision a woman makes over the course of her lifetime is whether and when to bear a child," she said. "To deny a woman that right is to deny a person their ability to participate in their own future — it's wrong, it's cruel and frankly, it's just plain stupid."
Both Warren and Whitmer endorsed Ford for governor over incumbent Republican Joe Lombardo, endorsements that brought criticism from the GOP.
“Bringing Gretchen Whitmer and Elizabeth Warren to campaign for him is quite the choice, but Aaron Ford has a long history of making bad ones,” said RGA Deputy Communications Director Anna Marian Block, in a statement. “From sponsoring clemency for a career criminal who murdered a pregnant woman to supporting the commutation of the ‘Thrill Killer,’ Ford continues to stand with anyone except hardworking Nevadans.”
And Nick Poche, spokesman for the Republican National Committee, said in a statement of his own, "Gretchen Whitmer is the perfect headliner for Aaron Ford: a failing governor campaigning for a failed attorney general. Nevadans have seen enough of what Democrats deliver.”
Both Whitmer and Warren have repeatedly been mentioned as possible presidential candidates in 2028. (Warren ran for the office in 2020, but dropped out after Super Tuesday that year.)
Whitmer told the crowd about her effort to repeal a law that required insurance for abortion services, a decade-long effort that took her from the state Legislature to the statehouse. She reminded students and activists at the rally that they had the ability to make change.
"You deserve all the choices in the world. You deserve to live the life you want on your terms and be happy and be able to access all the health care that comes with living that healthy life," she said. "It's up to you how you're going to spend the next 14 days. But I implore you: Don't let any day go to waste. Don't let any moment go to waste."
