Lindsay Cross ad bashes Ed Montanari over 2023 votes against abortion measures

Democratic Rep. Lindsay Cross, facing a tough challenge from Republican Ed Montanari for her House District 60 seat, is out with an ad being spotlighted by EMILYs List, attacking Montanari over his stance on abortion.

EMILYs List has endorsed Cross for re-election. The ad cites Montanari’s votes on an abortion-related measure that came before the City Council last year seeking to provide city funding to help pay for residents’ out-of-state abortion care.

Montanari voted against the measure twice. Montanari is currently a St. Pete City Council member serving his final year before term limits hit. In the final vote, on the abortion measure, only two City Council members voted in favor of it, with the others arguing the move would subject the city to potentially costly litigation as it would likely violate state preemption.

But Montanari, during that same meeting last April, also voted against a symbolic resolution supporting a women’s right to choose and urging Mayor Ken Welch’s administration not to spend money on any activity that would criminalize abortion. Montanari in that vote was one of just two Council members to vote against the resolution, with others seeing the measure as a way to show support for women without risking costly legal action.

Montanari is the only Republican on the City Council, though the position is technically nonpartisan.

In Cross’ ad, a local veterinarian, Dr. Abi O’Connor, somberly retells her own tragic abortion experience.

“I needed an abortion to save my life,” she explains. “So, when politicians like Ed Montanari vote against access to abortion, they’re voting against critical care for women in the worst moments of their lives. Women shouldn’t die because of extreme politicians.”

The effort to use abortion as a cudgel against Republicans has been gaining hold ever since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, giving states the freedom to enact any abortion restrictions and triggering Florida’s six-week ban, which is now in effect and is among the strictest abortion bans in the nation.

Efforts to tie Republicans to abortion restrictions further gained traction after a ProPublica report highlighted the death of a Georgia mother who died after not receiving a timely procedure to remove remaining portions of her pregnancy after using the abortion pill. The procedure, common for women who have had a miscarriage, is called a dilation and curettage, or D and C, and is banned in Georgia unless it is necessary to save the life of the mother. Abortion supporters note that doctors worry the law is too vague, leaving them to have to wait until a woman is very sick before performing the procedure.

Cross is considered the favorite in the race, with district demographics that favor Democrats. But shifts in demographics have made the district more competitive for Republicans, offering an opening for Montanari.

Democrats enjoy a voter registration advantage of a little more than 3,000 voters, with 40,285 registered Democrats compared to 37,248 Republicans, according to the Pinellas County Supervisor of Elections’ most recent district voter registration data from July. That’s an advantage for Cross of a little less than 3 percentage points.

But those numbers include only active voters. When counting inactive voters, the advantage for Democrats — and by proxy, Cross — increases to about 6 percentage points, or about 6,000 voters.

Inactive voters are eligible to vote.

Cross also enjoys a fundraising advantage. In the most recent fundraising period covering activity from Aug. 24 through Sept. 6, Cross raised more than $30,000, with Montanari bringing in about half as much. Cross had more than $360,000 on hand as of Sept. 6, while Montanari ended the period with about $155,000.

But Montanari has significant institutional support from House leadership, including from Speaker-elect Daniel Perez. Republicans have a supermajority in the chamber.