The Washington PostDemocracy Dies in Darkness

Democrat who ran heavily on abortion rights, IVF wins Alabama special election

Marilyn Lands won a decisive victory in a state House district that Donald Trump narrowly won in 2020

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Updated March 26, 2024 at 11:50 p.m. EDT|Published March 26, 2024 at 10:18 p.m. EDT
Democrat Marilyn Lands chats with Nestor Centeno last week in the suburbs of Huntsville, Ala., as she tried to rally support from voters. (Michael S. Williamson/The Washington Post)
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Democrat Marilyn Lands on Tuesday decisively won an Alabama state House seat in a long-held Republican district, notching a special-election victory after centering her campaign on promoting access to abortion and in vitro fertilization.

Lands’s win was the latest in a string of Democratic victories around reproductive rights after abortion rights advocates experienced a huge blow nearly two years ago. Since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade — which had established a constitutional right to abortion — in 2022, Democrats have found success in battleground elections and ballot referendums by focusing heavily on protecting abortion rights and running against GOP opposition to them.