With abortion now among the most contentious issues in the country, a Democratic primary in West Haven is exposing the emotional fault lines over abortion and race as candidates battle over reproductive rights.
State Rep. Trenee McGee, an anti-abortion African American female Democrat, is battling for her political life in a race against pro-abortion rights candidate Joseph Miller that the party’s hardcore base will decide in the Aug. 9 primary.
McGee has surprised many Democrats with her outspoken views against abortion, and her speech on the floor of the state House of Representatives during an abortion debate in April has been cited by colleagues as one of the most memorable speeches on any legislative topic in recent years.
McGee, who voted against the abortion bill that was recently signed into law by Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont, said that abortion has been “destructive to my community” in urban neighborhoods. She said she wanted to “speak the fearless truth” about too many abortions in minority communities.
“My journey and quest for racial justice when it comes to reproductive rights began in a classroom with Black girls who knew about abortion when they were 7 years old and were taught in their classrooms about abortion,” McGee said on the House floor.
“They were taught about abortion as a birth-control method. They were taught that, at any point in time, when they were 13 or 12 or 15, they can go to a Planned Parenthood and receive an abortion without their parents knowing. This differed when I traveled across the state as a teaching artist, and I went into the suburbs, where there were young white girls who had access to all sorts of preventative methods, as well as even organizations that helped them to transition their births to their adoptive parents.”
A little-known freshman representative who won a special election in December, McGee, 27, was making her first major speech on the House floor that initially gained little attention when she stood up to speak. But as McGee continued with anecdotes during her nine-minute speech, the House members became more focused as they paused to listen.
Black women, she said, never had problems with access to abortion, saying that clinics are “in walking distance of our middle schools and our homes.”
Miller, 24, is battling against McGee as a candidate who strongly supports abortion rights. A computer consultant who graduated from West Haven High School in 2016, Miller supports job training and the recent cut in the gasoline tax to help struggling workers to help make ends meet in middle-class communities like his hometown.
A Democratic activist, Miller volunteered on campaigns for U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-3, of New Haven and Hillary Rodham Clinton during the 2016 presidential race against Donald Trump.
While McGee’s speech was hailed by supporters, the remarks cut both ways. Miller, 24, said he had been thinking about running against McGee, but her remarks marked the final straw.
“What really got me over the finish line was seeing her speech,” Miller said in an interview. “There was a lot of fear and anxiety around that Supreme Court decision, especially with a lot of women. It’s important that we, as potential leaders, protect our constituents at all costs, and that includes when it comes down to their reproductive rights. In my opinion, reproductive rights for everyone are still a constitutional right in my mind, regardless of the Supreme Court decision, and I will fight tooth and nail to ensure that they are upheld and respected.
“It was an impassioned speech and a wonderful performance, but the substance just didn’t really feel right with me, knowing what I know of the community and how strongly that issue is for our Democratic values and the party platform.”
McGee, though, was taken aback by Miller’s view of her speech.
“He, as a white man, can’t ever give voice to what it means to be a woman and a Black woman,” McGee said. “If he was pushed to run against me from the historical evidence and stats that I stated on the floor, then I think that that adds to a certain complexity which we call supremacy. If that was something that made him run, then I think he sort of missed the point because it wasn’t about being a white man. It was about being a Black woman. … At no point can he get pregnant or have an abortion. It’s very odd.”
The abortion debate came on a controversial bill that was proposed before the final decision was issued that overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade abortion ruling. The bipartisan law will increase the number of medical professionals allowed to perform abortions in Connecticut and expand abortion-related protections regarding lawsuits.
The majority of Democrats, including Lamont, supported the bill, but 10 members of the Black and Puerto Rican Caucus, including McGee, voted against the measure. The bill passed by 87-60 in the state House of Representatives and 25-9 in the Senate. State Rep. Laura Devlin of Fairfield, who is running for lieutenant governor on a ticket with gubernatorial candidate Bob Stefanowski, was among seven Republicans voting in favor of the bill.
Overall, 14 House Democrats voted against the abortion bill, joining with the majority of Republicans in opposition. McGee and others said that Black women make up only 14% of the child-bearing population but have 36% of abortions.
In her campaign, McGee has received strong support as she knocks on doors with state Rep. Geraldo Reyes, a deputy House speaker who chairs the Black and Puerto Rican Caucus, and state Rep. Robyn Porter of New Haven, who both voted against the bill. Reyes and Porter are two of the most high-profile leaders of the caucus.
House Republican leader Vincent Candelora of North Branford, a veteran lawmaker who sits on the opposite side of the political aisle from McGee, said it took political courage in a tough election year for her to break publicly with her party on an emotional, marquee issue.
“I certainly admire her as a freshman to take up an issue like that,” Candelora said in an interview. “It certainly took guts. … For me, looking back over my 16-year career, I think it was probably one of the most memorable speeches that I’ve ever heard. There’s just certain moments that impact you, and that was one of those moments, especially that the legislature never really has any conversation on reproductive rights very often. It made you think.”
McGee, he said, distinguished herself from other Democrats who have largely remained silent.
“There are pro-life Democrats in the legislature, and sadly, many of them don’t have the courage to come forward because they’re afraid of retribution,” Candelora said. “They’re afraid to make a big deal about it. The political discourse in general, not just on abortion, is very divisive in this country, especially if you’re a Democrat. You need to be very careful on the positions that you take.
“We see that on the Republican side, too. [Former U.S. House Republican leader] Liz Cheney, for one, on the federal level. It’s an unfortunate part of the process that has become more and more common. The tenor is divisive. There are litmus tests that are in place. You could be a great representative and people will draw the line in the sand based on one position that you take, and I think that’s a dangerous process that we’re in.”
Republicans immediately responded during the debate, saying that it took courage for McGee to take a strong stance against abortion at a time when most Democrats strongly favor abortion access.
Like Candelora, state Sen. Doug McCrory, a Hartford Democrat, said McGee’s speech was one of the best he has heard in 17 years at the Capitol.
“Representative McGee pulled the scab off something,” McCrory said on the Senate floor. “Yes, she did.”
Aside from abortion, the candidates are campaigning on the bread-and-butter issues of inflation, unemployment and the state economy in a racially diverse city of West Haven with hardscrabble neighborhoods as many residents struggle to survive each day. They are impacted by rising gasoline and food prices as inflation has hit a four-decade high.
A West Haven native, Miller said he grew up in a lower-middle-class family that suffered from “food and housing instability,” prompting him to better understand the plight of many residents that he learned from “adversity in my childhood years.”
In the legislature, McGee and other Democrats voted for a package that eliminated the 25 cents-per-gallon gasoline excise tax until Dec. 1 and provided free bus rides during the same period.
“I had many constituents reach out to me, with gratitude, for the free bus,” McGee said.
Despite uncertainty among some Democrats about her position, McGee said she supports gay marriage.
Former state Rep. Stephen Dargan, a Democrat who represented West Haven for 26 years in the legislature, said some Democrats had been unaware of McGee’s positions when she won the special election in December. She replaced Rep. Michael DiMassa, who stepped down after an FBI investigation led to charges of stealing more than $600,000 in federal COVID-19 relief money by billing the city of West Haven for pandemic-related consulting services that federal officials said he never performed.
“McGee caught some flack when she was running and people that were backing her did not know what her beliefs were as far as pro-choice, pro-life,” Dargan said. “This brings a unique perspective where a Democrat is pro-life and running in a primary. One of the hottest issues with the Supreme Court is Roe vs. Wade, and we’ll have to see how that plays out in a primary.”
Looking back at her speech, McGee said, “Many of my constituents are Black women, and they’re pro-life and they’re Democrats. That wasn’t an abnormality to me. I am not an anomaly. … Even growing up, I’ve heard Black women who were pro-life and Democrats. … I have not been attacked by anyone in my community, even if they did not agree.”
Christopher Keating can be reached at ckeating@courant.com.
