Former Langevin Opponent Says Congressional Candidate Joy Fox "Enabled His Anti-Choice Agenda"

Former Langevin Opponent Says Congressional Candidate Joy Fox "Enabled His Anti-Choice Agenda"

One of the biggest issues facing America is the fate of the Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade. And, with the right-leaning high court expected to chip away or overturn the landmark case, it may be up to Congress to take up action to protect abortion rights.

In 2006, Jennifer Lawless, then a professor at Brown University, challenged then-three term Jim Langevin in the Democratic primary. Langevin then was a strong opponent of abortion rights and his top defender was his press secretary Joy Fox.

Fox now is a candidate for the very seat Langevin held -- the second congressional seat. She announced her candidacy in January.

GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST

Langevin won the primary 61% to 39%.

Fox served on Langevin's staff for nearly six years and during that period he voted against abortion rights.

SEE FULL INTERVIEW BELOW

“We were very clear in saying that it was not a single-issue campaign and it wasn’t," said Lawless of her 2006 campaign, on GoLocal LIVE this week. 

"I cared about the war in Iraq. I cared about the right to privacy in general, but a woman's right to choose was the biggest difference and in 2006 when I was running Jim Langevin had already voted 27 times against a woman's right to choose in the six years that he'd been in Congress," she said. 

"My argument then and this is my argument now is what's the point in electing Democrats who are going to stymie reproductive rights. That's just helping Republicans. You may as well hand the Republicans a seat and now when choice is especially under attack it's more important than ever now over time," said Lawless who today is the chair of the political science department at the University of Virginia.

 

Enabler

"I will say that when Joy Fox worked with him she was one of the people who enabled his anti-choice agenda and I would say that when you look at the second congressional district, even if it's a little bit less blue than the first congressional district in Rhode Island, it overall is two-thirds pro-choice and I would be worried if I lived in that district about sending somebody to Washington who does not have credentials to suggest that she actually supports a woman's right to choose," said Lawless.

Repeated efforts to reach the Fox campaign were unsuccessful.