Allison Russo on 2024 Senate Race: “Any One of These Republican Candidates Would Support a Total Abortion Ban”

As Ohio Democrats are reflecting on one year since the Dobbs decision, they are also looking ahead to next year’s U.S. Senate Race in Ohio.

“Let me make one thing clear — every single candidate running for Ohio’s seat supports an abortion ban, including bans that make no exceptions for rape or incest,” House Minority Leader Allison Russo, D-Upper Arlington, said Friday morning during a press conference. “There’s no doubt in my mind that if elected, any one of these Republican candidates would support a total abortion ban without exceptions in Ohio and across the nation.”

Ohio state Sen. Matt Dolan, R- Chagrin Falls, and entrepreneur Bernie Moreno are trying to become Ohio’s U.S. Senator in 2024 by challenging Democratic U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown. Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose is also expected to throw his hat in the ring and has sent out a fundraising request disguised as an important letter to Ohioans.

“They would make it harder for women to access health care during the most personal difficult circumstances,” Russo said.

LaRose has admitted that Issue 1, which Ohioans will vote on during Aug. 8’s special election, is, “100% about keeping a radical pro-abortion amendment out of our constitution.”

“The Republican U.S. Senate candidate in Ohio would support a total abortion ban at the national level,” ODP Chair Elizabeth Walters said. “And if Republicans take back the Senate will see unprecedented attacks on women and abortion rates in this country.”

Collecting signatures

The Ohio Democratic Party has collected more than 103,000 signatures so far from all of Ohio’s 88 counties to get a measure on the November ballot that would enshrine abortion rights in the Ohio Constitution, Walters said.

“We’ll continue gathering until probably the end of next week,” she said.

Abortion rights groups need to get 413,000 signatures by July 5 to get the measure on the November ballot.

On a media call Thursday, Ohio Physicians for Reproductive Rights said they are confident they will get enough signatures in time.

“We will have reached our goals to be able to submit before the deadline coming up in July,” said Dr. Lauren Beene, OPRR co-founder and general pediatrician in Northeast Ohio.