Scheduling issues have forced former Rep. Tim Walberg to postpone a fundraiser with former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) that had been planned for Monday.

But Walberg, who is running for the GOP nomination in Michigan’s 7th district, said Friday that he’s still hoping the event will take place in the near future.

“We would love to have Mayor Giuliani come in for us. That would be exciting,” Walberg said in an interview.

But an appearance with a prominent Republican who supports abortion rights may cause some blowback in a GOP primary where pro-life groups haven’t been shy about speaking up.

In May, members of the Jackson (Mich.) Right To Life group criticized Walberg’s top primary opponent, attorney Brian Rooney, for missing the group’s annual dinner and instead going to a fundraiser that was attended by a former president of the Republican Main Street Partnership — a group that has supported candidates who back abortion rights in the past.

Walberg said he saw very little in common between that situation and an appearance with a national Republican Party leader like Giuliani.

“I would assume there are plenty of pro-lifers in the district who would respect Mayor Giuliani’s record of leadership” on economic, national security and other issues, Walberg said. “He is a guy who is on the right side of fiscal issues.”

Walberg said he is “100 percent pro-life” and that anti-abortion rights supporters know that his record “will not change on values issues.”

But Rooney’s campaign said Walberg is trying to play both sides when it comes to the issue of abortion.
Asked for a comment Friday, Rooney consultant Jason Roe said, “I’ll let Tim Walberg’s hypocrisy speak for itself.”

The winner of the Aug. 3 primary will face Rep. Mark Schauer (D) in November.