By Lizzie Ramirez
Minnesota’s first lady Gwen Walz teamed with actress Jennifer Garner to visit Reno on Saturday, Oct. 19 as part of the Harris Walz Reproductive Bus Tour.
On the crisp morning that kicked off Nevada’s early voting, downtown Reno was filled with people attending a plethora of events taking place. Along with the Reproductive Bus making a pit stop in Reno, Northern Nevada Marches Forward also hosted the Women’s March — a women’s rights march timed this year to also get women and supporters to the polls.
While marchers were getting ready for the event, the Harris Walz campaign team was setting up an intimate gathering at Wild River Grille. Those who had volunteered for the campaign were invited via text message, and about 300 people RSVPed for the stop.
At around 11:40 a.m. Senators Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen opened for Garner and Walz, emphasizing what women have at stake in this election.
“Listen, we in Nevada, we know we are a proud pro-choice state… We believe in women’s rights and women’s reproductive freedoms,” Sen. Cortez Masto said. “We know that it is not right, it is not fair, that there are women in other states who have lost those fundamental freedoms.”
“I think sometimes that what the other side forgets is that no one is excited about the day they have an abortion.”
Cortez Masto highlighted the struggles women are facing across the country and why she believes it’s so important to vote in this election. She spoke of women being denied healthcare and doctors being criminalized, adding, “That’s why it is time we elect individuals who are going to help us codify Roe vs. Wade and bring those freedoms back.”
Though Roe vs. Wade was overturned at the federal level, abortion is still legal in Nevada without restriction up to 24 weeks of pregnancy, and with some restrictions after that. This year, Nevadans can vote on ballot question six to decide if abortion should be codified in the state’s constitution. Should voters approve the measure this year and again in 2026, it will be added to the constitution.
The recent debate between Republican U.S. Senate candidate Sam Brown and Democrat incumbent Rosen was mentioned by Cortez Masto.
“Sam Brown said he wanted to be Donald Trump’s ally in Congress,” she said. “And what does that mean? That means he’s going to fight to take away our rights.”
The crowd booed when Brown was mentioned. The room was buzzing with their reactions as she asked, “Why don’t they trust women?” One individual shouted in response, “They’re scared!”
Sen. Rosen continued the rally with “heartbreaking” stories about the extreme abortion bans.
“Young girls were raped, had incest in their family forced to give birth even before starting the seventh grade,” she said. “Stories of women bleeding in parking lots. Stores of women and doctors and nurses watching them in their hospital bed, waiting till they crashed and they waited one minute too late in Georgia, that woman dying.”
Donald Trump and allies like Sam Brown are to blame, said Rosen. She said if Kamala Harris is elected, she will sign reproductive freedoms back into law.
It wasn’t long until Garner took the stage. Marchers from the women’s march were also starting to surround Wild River Grille, excited to get a peek of what was happening inside the campaign event.
“I think sometimes that what the other side forgets is that no one is excited about the day they have an abortion,” Garner said. “This is never a good day. This is not something that anyone is advocating for, either a heart-wrenching decision or it is a heartbreaking, unwanted outcome.”
Garner went on to highlight other policies the Harris Walz campaign is advocating for such as uplifting lower and middle class families and helping first-time homebuyers.
Walz soon entered the stage, being welcomed with the loudest round of applause and cheers of the day. She shared a private story between her and Democratic vice president nominee, Tim Walz.
“Earlier this year, Tim and I decided to share our story too,” Walz said. “When the Alabama Supreme Court ruling on IVF came down, it brought us to our knees. We saw people getting turned away from clinics. We watched, as it happened, people forced to put their dreams of having children on hold, and it brought back to us like a crush, a crush of emotion that we hadn’t felt in a long, long time.”
Walz said the path to parenthood was “not easy” for her and Tim. They struggled, but they had access to fertility treatments, she said. It took years for her to get pregnant, and when she finally did, they named their daughter Hope.
“Donald Trump overturned Roe vs. Wade and facts are facts. Because of him, more than 20 states have extreme abortion bans,” Walz said. “Now he’s running on a platform that threatens access to IVF nationwide.”
Walz again reiterated what past speakers have emphasized, to vote yes on question six.
“Kamala Harris and Tim Walz — send them to the White House and they will defend reproductive freedoms, not destroy it.”
