OKLAHOMA CITY — As Kansas voters blocked a constitutional amendment that would enable abortion restrictions, Kendra Horn, a Democrat running for an open Senate seat in neighboring Oklahoma, was watching.
Oklahoma is an even more conservative state. It awarded former President Donald Trump one of his largest margins of victory in the country in 2020. It was the first to essentially end abortion availability after the Supreme Court’s Dobbs ruling reversed Roe v. Wade in June. And abortion is such a touchy issue on the left that even the Democratic nominee for governor is a former Republican who refers to herself as pro-life.
But here was Horn, who served one term as the first Democratic woman to represent Oklahoma in the House, standing before a clutch of supporters at one of her first campaign events earlier this month, explaining why she had chosen to make abortion rights a centerpiece of her campaign to succeed longtime GOP Sen. James M. Inhofe, who is retiring at the end of the year.
