As the 2024 election cycle draws nearer, both parties are working on what they believe to be their winning strategies for gaining congressional seats. The Democrats believe that their focus on countering abortion restrictions led to an underwhelming performance for Republicans in the 2022 midterms, so they plan to continue and strengthen that argument.
Republicans, however, are not unified in whether they should draw attention to the issue, fearing that taking a particular stance will lead to losses. Senate Democrats have over twice as many seats to hold onto than the Republicans do, and they have no chance of taking any of the solid red seats up for grabs.
A large portion of the Republican Party, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., believe that the abortion issue should be left up to the states, just as the Supreme Court ruled. Senator Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., disagrees with McConnell, as he believes that abortion is more of a “human rights issue,” and that “there’s a role in protecting the unborn in Washington.” Some Republican strategists are cringing at the thought of Senator Graham reintroducing his 15-week federal ban on abortion so close to the election, which garnered national outrage from Democrats leading up to the 2022 midterms while they were still up in arms about Roe v. Wade being overturned.
Just as Republican lawmakers are in disagreement as to what approach they should take on the matter, so are Republican strategists, which could lead to voters turning away from the party if a consensus is not met. One strategist who agrees with Senator Graham believes that Democrats will always use abortion access as a reason to vote for them, and he feels that Republicans would benefit more if they were honest about how they believe the abortion issue should be addressed. The ultimate decision may be to focus on other things, such as the state of the economy and crime, which can hurt Democrat efforts to secure more seats.
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