It’s a tactic many candidates in competitive districts have been adopting ever since it became clear after the 2022 midterm elections that voters largely support abortion rights and have a negative view of people working to overturn them, our colleague Emily Brooks reports.
It marks a shift from the last election cycle in 2022, when many Republicans — caught off-guard by the Supreme Court overturning the federal right to abortion that year — pivoted to other issues like the economy and immigration that polled as bigger concerns.
The GOP underperformed expectations, and abortion was widely credited with breaking an anticipated “red wave.”
Democrats are again heavily campaigning on abortion access this year. But Republican strategists advised candidates to articulate their position on abortion early — and to use those articulated positions to combat Democratic messaging.
Republican campaigns are successfully pitching fact-checks to local media that pick at the claims of Democratic campaigns, and candidates are going on air with ads to directly articulate their stances on abortion.
In debates, GOP congressional candidates are taking a more aggressive approach and accusing Democrats of misrepresenting their position.
In an unusually graphic example of that aggressiveness on Monday, Rep. Nick LaLota (R-N.Y.) took advantage of a Zoom debate format to push back on his Democratic challenger, John Avalon — much to the dismay of the moderators.
As Avalon referenced LaLota’s stated opposition to second and third trimester abortion, LaLota held up a printed piece of paper that said: “I OPPOSE A NATIONAL ABORTION BAN.”
Democrats argue Republicans are simply hiding their previous positions or records.
And while a number of Republicans say they wouldn’t support a national abortion ban, Democrats — pointing to strict state-level bans that have gone into effect — are pitching legislation that would codify the protections of Roe v. Wade.
