How the Liberal Establishment Got Blindsided on Abortion

Remember Wendy Davis? For a brief moment in 2013, Davis, then a Texas state senator, captured the nation’s attention with a dramatic gambit. The Democrat filibustered an anti-abortion bill, spending 13 hours on her feet while reading research and testimonies from women who opposed the legislation. (A doctor had inserted a catheter into her bladder so she could accomplish the feat.) Images of Davis in her pink sneakers spread across the internet. Writer Sally Kohn would later call the shoes “a talisman of feminism and political voice and literally standing up for what’s right.” By the end of the evening, pro-choice activists had crowded into the rotunda of the state capitol, and prominent Democrats had signaled their support for Davis in public. Thanks to her efforts, the bill died.

As his corruption trial continues, Senator Robert Menendez has filed to run for reelection as an independent candidate. In October, New York published an in-depth look at his marriage, which is virtually impossible to disentangle from the charges against him.

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