Politico reports:

Democrats are counting on abortion rights to carry them to victory this fall in races across the country. But nowhere more so than in Arizona.

Abortion-rights activists are gathering hundreds of thousands of signatures to put a measure on the ballot enshrining protections in the state’s constitution. Doing so, Democrats believe, will juice turnout on the left, giving them a chance to break the GOP’s narrow majority in the state legislature, win a pivotal Senate seat and deliver the state — and possibly the election — to President Joe Biden.

Biden reminded voters in Phoenix last week that he “desperately” needs their help. And Vice President Kamala Harris made Arizona her first stop after the State of the Union, where she focused her speech on the threat posed by the state supreme court, which could soon reinstate an 1864 abortion ban with no exceptions for rape or incest.

Some Arizona conservatives acknowledge that a referendum on abortion rights could dim their electoral chances, and are working to keep the issue off the November ballot. Others are backpedaling on previous hardline anti-abortion stances as they court independents and moderates. [Continue reading…]