National Democratic operatives are looking to the decisive defeat of Ohio’s Issue 1 this week as a green light for abortion-focused message going into the 2024 campaign.
Why it matters: The Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade resulted in a burst of grassroots energy that many Democrats credit for their better-than-expected midterm showing.
Driving the news: On Tuesday, voters in the increasingly Republican-leaning state voted by a decisive margin against raising the threshold for amending the state’s Constitution.
- The measure would have made it more difficult for a state constitutional amendment protecting abortion rights to pass.
What we’re hearing: The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is circulating a memo, first obtained by Axios, noting that the measure was rejected by large majorities in “competitive House districts across the state[.]”
- The memo argues that the end of Roe is “still a major motivating factor even after the [2022] midterms,” pointing also to Democratic over-performances in special elections this year.
- “It is crucial that Democrats remind voters early and often that … MAGA Republicans are focusing their power on advocating for dangerous and unpopular abortion bans,” it says.
Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee spokesperson Tommy Garcia echoed the memo in a statement to Axios.
- “Ohio’s special election is the latest confirmation that the GOP’s toxic agenda on abortion will lead their Senate campaigns to defeat,” he said.
The other side: “If [Ohio Democratic Sen.] Sherrod Brown wants to run on his support for child gender reassignment surgery and painful abortions up to the moment of birth, we’ll welcome that,” Phillip Letsou, a spokesperson for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, told Axios.
What we’re watching: The 2024 congressional elections could coincide not only with the presidential election, but abortion-focused ballot measures in states across the country.
- Democrats plan to spend more than $20 million to pass a sweeping equal rights measure in New York, where House Republicans are defending roughly a half dozen highly competitive seats.
- Abortion measures could also be on the ballot in other key states in the presidential and congressional elections, including Arizona, Nebraska, Florida and Iowa.
Source : AXIOS
