MSNBC anchor Andrea Mitchell asked gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis (D-TX) why one of Davis’ ads referenced her Republican opponent Greg Abbott’s “supposed disability” during an interview on Tuesday.

“Could you have gone after what you see as his hypocrisy by pointing out what he did in that rape case, what he did in these other cases, without this stark image of the empty wheelchair, which seemed to be trying to point people towards his own supposed disability?” Mitchell asked.  

Davis defended the ad, saying it was mean to draw attention to “the fact that Greg Abbott was at the receiving end of a tragic accident, and he was able to receive justice for himself when he sued a homeowner and a tree company after a tree fell on him. He received millions of dollars in a settlement. And since then, in his entire public service career, he has been working to kick that ladder down and deny that same opportunity for justice to other people.”  She added that the spot was “fair,” “absolutely not,” a personal attack, and that “voters now see Abbott for who he is, and of course, in an election, that’s entirely the point.”

Davis also referenced, “My story as a Texan. A young woman who came from poverty to success because of the opportunity that education provided for me, and that’s what I’m fighting for,” and attacked Abbott for taking money from the Koch Brothers.

When asked whether Abbott’s hypocrisy was the main issue in the campaign instead of her position on abortion, Davis argued, “The central theme, the over-arching issue for Texas voters to decide on November 4, is whether they are going to choose a governor who will fight for all hard working people, or whether they will choose a governor who has shown time and time again that he’s going to sell them out.”

She then spent most of her answer talking about education, and promised to “fight to increase our minimum wage,” and “fight to make sure that women are paid equally for equal work,” before declaring that she would be a governor “who’s going to fight to make sure that women’s reproductive rights in this state are respected,” and then briefly turning to Medicaid expansion.

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