WASHINGTON – Former President Donald Trump called on a conference of Christian conservative voters to get out and cast their ballot this fall, and he stressed his position that states should set their own abortion restrictions even as some attendees pushed for a national ban.
Speaking to a Faith & Freedom Coalition conference on Saturday, Trump said states should make separate decisions on abortion policy and noted that his three Supreme Court appointees were pivotal in overturning Roe v. Wade in 2022.
But he also said efforts to enact a federal ban on abortion have hurt previous Republican candidates in closely contested states. Abortion rights advocates have notched several victories in recent ballot initiatives, and Democrats widely campaigned on abortion access in the 2022 midterm elections
“We have to get elected – you have to be able to win, ” Trump told the group of religious Republicans at one point, arguing that fighting for a national abortion ban could be risky for the GOP. The Faith & Freedom Coalition has said it will work toward restrictions at the state and federal levels.
At other points, Trump said that “we cannot sit home” and “we need Christian voters to turn out.”
In repeatedly reminding religious conservatives to “get out and vote,” Trump stressed his many agreements with them – including support for a new Louisiana law requiring the posting of the Ten Commandments in public classrooms.
Numerous groups have pledged to sue Louisiana over the legislation, saying the push would virtually erase the line between church and state.
Republican Gov. Jeff Landry signed the bill into law earlier this week. The first state to take such action, Louisiana’s push mandates a poster-sized display of the religious rules in “large, easily readable font” for kindergarten classrooms up to state-funded universities starting in 2025.
During a speech that lasted well over an hour, Trump also received cheers for supporting home schooling and private religious schools and pledging to close the Department of Education if he’s elected to another term in the fall.
While several Republican candidates have backed the same idea, the Department of Education’s responsibilities are wide ranging, from providing financial assistance for students from low-income families to addressing discrimination complaints through their Office for Civil Rights.
Above all, Trump called on the Christian voters at the conference and around the country to vote this fall.
When Faith & Freedom coalition members broke out into into a “USA! USA!” chant, Trump urged them to stop the chanting and focus on getting themselves and their friends out to vote.
“Go out and vote, that’s all I ask,” he said. “Don’t say ‘USA, USA, we love Trump USA … and then November 5 comes along – or any of the previous days, you know, the early voting – and then you say, ‘darling, I’m just a little tired; I think I’ll skip the vote’ … You can’t do that!”
Later, when members of the crowd re-started the “USA” chant, others responded with: “Vote, vote, vote!”
More than 75% of White evangelical protestant voters were estimated to have backed Trump in 2020 against President Joe Biden. But estimates also showed that all Catholic voters were almost evenly split between Trump and Biden during the last presidential election.
Voter turnout was a theme for several speakers at the Faith & Freedom Coalition conference.
Michael Whatley, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, told attendees that voters of faith could make the difference in the states that will likely decide the election, including Michigan and Pennsylvania. Whatley said the Republicans want to expand the list of battleground states to include places like Virginia and Minnesota.
“We’re going to win these purple states because of you,” Whatley told the conference on Saturday.
Trump, a long-time foe of mail-in balloting, alluded to the practice in reminding religious conservatives about early voting in many states prior to Election Day on Nov. 5.
“It used to be one day,” Trump said. “Now it’s, you know, two months.”
Trump has long criticized mail-in voting, claiming without evidence that it’s prone to corruption. But many Republican officials say it is essential to a viable voter turnout operation, so the Trump campaign has made it a major focus for this presidential election, including appeals to organizations like the Faith and Freedom Coalition.
Trump, who also scheduled a Saturday night rally in Philadelphia and a Friday event in Chesapeake, Virginia, made a late acceptance this week to address the Faith & Freedom Coalition conference.
Both events came less than a week before a pivotal campaign event: His first debate with President Joe Biden.
Biden is expected to make abortion a major topic in Thursday’s clash, arguing that – whatever the presumptive Republican nominee says – Trump and his party are determined to ban abortion throughout the country.
Sarafina Chitika, spokesperson for the Biden campaign, said Trump’s appearance proves that “you are the company you keep.”
“The people who’ve devoted their lives and careers to banning abortion nationwide know they can trust Donald Trump to do the same,” she said.
During his speech to the group of religious conservative voters, Trump repeated that even if states want to restrict abortion, he supports exceptions in cases of rape, incest, and life-threatening medical emergencies.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY.
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