Political Rewind: Abortion bans fail in 2 red states; Bipartisan PAC attacks far-right politicians

Caption

South Carolina Republican Sen. Tom Davis speaks against a near-total abortion ban, Wednesday, April 26, 2023, in Columbia, S.C. The South Carolina Senate rejected the bill Thursday, April 27.

Credit: AP Photo/James Pollard

The panel

Jen Jordan, @attorney_jen, former state senator

Leo Smith, @leosmithtweets, founder and CEO, Engaged Futures

Patricia Murphy, @MurphyAJC, political reporter and columnist, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Rahul Bali, @rahulbali, politics reporter, WABE

The breakdown

1. A man shot and killed five people after he was asked to stop shooting at night.

• Wilson Garcia and two others asked 38-year-old Francisco Oropeza to shoot somewhere further away from Garcia's home near his property. After Oropeza refused, Garcia called the police. Oropeza then came towards Garcia's home, killing five of the 15 people meeting in the home.
• The FBI announced they have no leads. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott was criticized after noting the victims' immigration status in his statement.

2. GOP-controlled legislatures in Nebraska and South Carolina rejected strict abortion bills.

• South Carolina struck down a six-week abortion bill for the third time since the Dobbs ruling. In Nebraska, Republican state Sen. Merv Riepe blocked the bill's passage on political grounds, saying, “We must embrace the future of reproductive rights.”
• Riepe also noted his 2022 Democratic opponent's mobilization efforts after Dobbs, warning that state level abortion bans may only further push voters away from the GOP.

3. A bipartisan super PAC slams far-right politicians, including U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.

• Mission Democracy PAC, a bipartisan PAC, looks to unseat far-right politicians in deep red districts, like Reps. Greene, Matt Gaetz, and Lauren Boebert.
• Former Rep. Denver Riggleman (VA), former Trump administration official Olivia Troye, and Democrat Marcus Flowers (who lost to Greene in 2022) supported the ad campaign.
• The ad describes its targets as 'fascists', a term The New York Times says is rarely used in political advertising.
• The Times also reports The Lincoln Project, an anti-Trump conservative group, has raised $118 million since its creation in 2019.

4. President Biden addressed the press at the White House Correspondent's Dinner.

• Biden addressed the crowd of journalists, saying "The free press is a pillar, maybe the pillar, of a free society, not the enemy."
• Comedian Roy Woods Jr. stole the show, breaking from his routine to speak on both his father's career in journalism and the importance of local journalism.

Tuesday on Political Rewind: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Tamar Hallerman joins the panel.