Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel said the GOP “can win” on abortion despite major losses in last week’s elections.
Abortion rights have been a winning issue for Democrats since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, ending the nationwide right to abortion.
Last week, voters in Ohio resoundingly approved an amendment to the state’s constitution to protect abortion access. The issue also helped Democrats retake control of the legislature in Virginia, and win Governor Andy Beshear a second term in red Kentucky. Statewide initiatives in California, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Montana, and Vermont have already affirmed abortion access or rejected attempts to undermine the right.
Nevertheless, McDaniel claimed Americans were with the GOP on the issue.
“I’m proud to be a pro-life party, but we can win on this message,” McDaniel said on NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday.
Getty Images/Joe Raedle
“The American people are where we are, and they want common-sense limitations. They want more access to adoption. We want to make sure that there’s pregnancy crisis centers.
“These are things we can win on. But we have to talk about it, and you can’t hide in a corner and think abortion’s not going to be an issue.”
Asked about the Senate Republican campaign arm telling candidates to oppose a national abortion ban, McDaniel said she is “not a policy person” and that the RNC would leave it to lawmakers to “stake their lane out.”
Democrats “are going to make it a national issue, though,” she said.
“And I do think we have to talk about this issue because the Democrats will say, ‘We’re going to take it to the Senate and codify it.’ And so, I think there’s a lot of discussion to be had, but we can’t just say it’s a state’s issue and be done.” Newsweek has contacted McDaniel for further comment via email.
Despite McDaniel’s comments, polling has indicated that most Americans are not on the side of Republicans on the issue of abortion.
A Gallup survey in May found a majority (61 percent) opposed the Supreme Court decision that overturned constitutional protections for abortion. The same poll found that two-thirds of Americans say abortion should be legal in the first trimester (69 percent), while support drops to 37 percent for the second trimester and 22 percent for the third.
Other Republicans have said that last week’s election results show how important the abortion issue is ahead of the 2024 election.
It was “a real wake-up call,” Wyoming Sen. Cynthia Lummis told Newsweek. “I don’t discount it in any way as significant as we lean into 2024.”
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.