She praised President Donald Trump. She warned of an invasion of liberal policies and a Democratic takeover of committees if Republicans lose the Senate. She stressed securing the border, fighting MS-13 and lowering taxes. She highlighted her work as a Republican House member to “get government off your back.”

But one issue was entirely absent — the one that had made Blackburn famous in Washington, and infamous in Democratic circles: abortion.

Even as the Supreme Court confirmation hearings for Judge Brett Kavanaugh have pushed Roe v. Wade to the forefront of U.S. politics, Blackburn has largely relegated abortion to the background as she campaigns for the seat being vacated by Sen. Bob Corker. Like other hard-right Republicans — including Brian Kemp, the candidate for governor in Georgia — she is adopting a broader platform, supporting Trump’s national agenda while focusing on statewide issues important to voters.

It is a noticeable shift for a politician who three years ago took an incendiary turn in the nation’s culture wars. Amid a divisive battle over the funding of Planned Parenthood, Blackburn led a congressional committee investigating allegations that the group had tried to illegally profit from the sale of fetal tissue, which the organization denied. Blackburn fanned the flames by making the audacious charge that the group was selling “baby body parts on demand.”

It was a particularly ugly chapter in a bitter national debate, with abortion rights activists claiming that the threat of subpoenas from Blackburn’s committee could set back medical research efforts and endanger the lives of doctors and scientists if their names became public. At the same time, abortion opponents earned grass-roots support during the pivotal presidential primaries.

The episode gained national attention and cemented Blackburn’s reputation as a hard-right firebrand.

But while Blackburn’s fierce opposition to abortion rights may have helped her in her deeply Republican district over the years, successful GOP Senate candidates running statewide in Tennessee — like Lamar Alexander, Fred Thompson, Bill Frist and Corker — have not been so hard-edged and fiery.

Both Blackburn and her Democratic opponent in November, the moderate former governor Phil Bredesen, are stressing business credentials in a state where pragmatic, pro-business ideology has long prevailed.

Democrats see the contest as a major opportunity to pick up a Republican-held seat, while Republicans see it as key to holding onto their one-seat Senate majority.

“It may be that issue will surface in the coming weeks,” said Brent Leatherwood, former executive director of the Tennessee Republican Party, referring to abortion. “Blackburn is as pro-life as they come in Congress, and Tennessee is a majority pro-life state. But if it doesn’t, it will serve as evidence that other national currents are driving this race.”

So far Blackburn’s strategy is producing mixed results. In a solidly conservative state, she and Bredesen are running neck and neck, according to an NBC/Marist poll released Thursday.

Playing down abortion issues has advantages and disadvantages for Blackburn, political experts say. It blunts her most extremist edge, which could help her in a general election against a centrist opponent. But it also removes a signature issue from her arsenal, in a Bible Belt state, and some GOP strategists said it would be surprising if she ultimately does not try to capitalize on it.

“The pro-life issue is one you lean into because it maximizes your turnout,” said Chris Saltsman, a strategist who ran Mike Huckabee’s 2008 presidential campaign. “You’ve got a simple choice, a pro-life candidate and a pro-choice candidate, and that matters in Tennessee. If this race becomes about the Supreme Court, and pro-life or pro-choice, and tax cuts and control of the Senate, then it becomes a bigger win for Marsha Blackburn.”

Saltsman said abortion has yet to become an issue because general-election campaigning is just getting started, and sharp contrasts between the candidates have yet to be drawn.

Blackburn declined repeated requests to be interviewed for this article.

In other conservative-leaning states, abortion has already taken hold as a front-and-center issue. In North Dakota last week, Kevin Cramer, the Republican candidate for Senate, aired a new ad attacking the incumbent, Heidi Heitkamp, for voting against an abortion ban after 20 weeks. National anti-abortion groups have invested heavily in other states before the midterms, including West Virginia, Indiana and Florida, but have little if any presence in Tennessee.

The only memorable moment involving abortion in Blackburn’s campaign was on its first day. Last year, Twitter blocked paid promotion of a video announcing Blackburn’s campaign because it included her talking about how she “stopped the sale of baby body parts.”

A recent loss by another Tennessee Republican may have provided a cautionary tale for Blackburn. Rep. Diane Black, who has called family planning “family destruction,” and who helped lead the successful campaign to amend the state’s constitution to remove any right to abortion, lost the Republican primary for governor last month — a sign that strong anti-abortion positions may not be enough to win statewide.

Tennessee’s three current leaders — Corker, Alexander and Gov. Bill Haslam — are known as pragmatists, not firebrands, and many conservatives in Tennessee fall into that group.

Bredesen’s record makes it difficult to use abortion as a political weapon against him. As governor, he allowed a measure for an anti-abortion license plate to become law, and the ACLU retaliated with a lawsuit.

“Bredesen has never been on the front of the choice issue,” said John G. Geer, professor of political science at Vanderbilt University. “It is like trying to tar him with Nancy Pelosi, it just doesn’t work.”

Blackburn has received standard endorsements from several prominent anti-abortion groups, like the Susan B. Anthony List, and she references “Tennessee values” but is not quick to define how those values connect to abortion. And she has made it clear she strongly supports the confirmation of Kavanaugh, whose nomination has become ground zero for the fight to overturn Roe v. Wade. Bredesen has said he would announce his views after the confirmation hearings.

More than half of Tennesseans believe abortion should be illegal in all or most cases, according to the Pew Research Center. Republicans and Democrats oppose legalized abortion in Tennessee in roughly equal numbers, though they are more partisan in their support or opposition to Kavanaugh, according to a recent poll by Gravis Marketing.

The abortion issue does not resonate as a top political priority for some prominent traditionally Republican donors.

Thomas Cigarran, a principal owner of the Nashville Predators, the city’s hockey team, has previously donated to Republicans, including Corker and Mitt Romney, but he will host a fundraiser for Bredesen at his home later this month. He said he and other Republicans are looking for a pragmatic and bipartisan leader, not an ideologue.

“We want a strong and prosperous country for everyone,” he said in a phone interview. “Is abortion an issue? Yes. Is it important? Yes. Is it one of the top 50 things that will make our country great? No.”

Many anti-abortion supporters in Tennessee also have a slew of additional political priorities.

At a recent fundraiser in Newport for a church-sponsored pregnancy help center, several hundred guests gathered at a Baptist church were largely focused on their local community.

Beneath twinkling lights strung across the ceiling, Lindsay Henderson, a nurse practitioner, was one of several guests who said they had not yet decided whom to support for Senate. “I need a candidate that supports entire care for a woman,” she said, mentioning postnatal and mental health care.

Jennifer Flockhart, a pediatric nurse who said she opposes abortion but is not particularly religious, said supporting legalization of medical cannabis “would absolutely make a difference” in earning her vote, but that she was not sure where Blackburn stood on the issue.

“Probably in the grand scheme of things a lot of what she does won’t affect me,” Flockhart said. “Let’s try to curb abortion, lower taxes.”

Others, like Miriam Faison, a clinical dietitian whose husband is a state representative, said they support Blackburn because opposition to abortion is their top priority. But even they have more concerns too.

“Who she would vote for for leadership in D.C., that’s a big thing for me," Fasion said. “When I look at the candidates, I’m looking at the big picture.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

Elizabeth Dias © 2018 The New York Times