Analysts and Republican politicians weigh in on the abortion issue and how the GOP can win in 2024.
Abortion politics propelled the Democrats to a sweeping victory in last week’s elections. The party kept the governorship in the profoundly red state of Kentucky, took full control of the Virginia legislature, grew their majorities in both chambers in New Jersey, won a state Supreme Court seat in Pennsylvania, and added the right to abortion into the Ohio constitution.
The post-Roe backlash has continued to produce victories for Democrats since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to abortion and reverted the matter to the states in June last year.
Republicans need to focus on other issues, said Robert Shapiro, a political science professor at Columbia University.
In his view, 2024 will be a whole new ball game, and Republicans can win by focusing on issues such as reducing crime and securing the southern border.
George Allen, former Republican Virginia governor, said Republicans should message the abortion issue as a matter for the states.
“It’s a local state issue; it’s not an issue for the federal government to get involved in,” Mr. Allen told The Epoch Times. “Say this endlessly, endlessly, endlessly.”
Former President Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, has refused to endorse a federal abortion policy.
He has expressed at campaign events in deeply conservative Iowa how Democrats are turning voters off Republicans who take too hard a line on abortion while saying he believes that people should “follow their heart” when it comes to abortion policy and work to speak more clearly about the issue.
“Without the exceptions, it is very difficult to win elections,” President Trump said. “We would probably lose majorities [in Congress] in 2024 without the exceptions, and perhaps the presidency itself.”
Mr. Allen acknowledges that it’s hard to get all Republicans to take the same stance. For example, Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-S.C.) has introduced a bill for a federal 15-week limit on abortion with the exception of rape, incest, and risk to the life of the mother.
By Terri Wu
