MN-HD35B: Swing seat GOP candidate would support constitutional abortion ban 'in a heartbeat'

[RandySF]

The Republican candidate for the open House seat in district 35B told supporters at a campaign kickoff event in April that he would support an amendment to the state Constitution to restrict abortion, according to event audio obtained by the Reformer.

“I would get behind that in a heartbeat if it had any chance at all to win,” Steve Pape, an engineer and Vietnam veteran from Coon Rapids, told an event attendee who asked about it.

Pape identifies as a “social moderate” and studiously avoids any mention of abortion on his campaign website. He also hasn’t spoken about the topic in interviews with conservative or mainstream news organizations, a tacit acknowledgement that the issue could be fraught in one of the state’s most narrowly divided districts. In 2022, outgoing DFL Rep. Jerry Newton won it by just 232 votes.

But in April, Pape said that he is “strongly, 100% pro-life,” and that abortion is an issue that motivated him to run because it feels like “one knife cut of a thousand to kill America.”


https://minnesotareformer.com/2024/09/09/swing-seat-gop-candidate-would-support-constitutional-abortion-ban-in-a-heartbeat/