There’s an old saying that many Republicans are recalling a day after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and allowed states to make abortion services illegal if they so choose: Careful what you wish for; you just might get it.
The GOP had been counting on retaking the House and Senate in the November midterm elections, but now their calculus for winning has been completely turned on its head, as many Republican campaign strategists are warning that the high court has greatly increased the chances Democrats now have an issue they can use to greatly increase turnout, according to Politico, which reports one GOP strategist lamented, “This is a losing issue for Republicans.”
Over a dozen Republican strategists spoke with David Siders, and all said they were concerned that an almost guaranteed GOP victory is no longer certain or even likely:
“In Republican circles, a consensus has been forming for weeks that the court’s overturning of a significant —and highly popular— precedent on a deeply felt issue will be a liability for the party in the midterms and beyond, undercutting Republicans to at least some degree with moderates and suburban women.”
Strategist John Thomas noted the quandary the high court has caused for his party:
“This is not a conversation we want to have. We want to have a conversation about the economy. We want to have a conversation about Joe Biden, about pretty much anything else besides Roe.”
This was supposed to be a bad midterm for Democrats, but they’re now energized and will able to fundraise, recruit campaign volunteers, and mobilize their voters for November:
The problem for Republicans with the Roe decision is that it’s giving Democrats something to grasp onto in an otherwise bleak year — the kind of issue that may animate some lower-propensity voters, including young Democrats, to turn out in November, and blunt the GOP’s appeals to independent voters, a majority of whom also support Roe, according to Gallup.”
But perhaps the most telling quote came from CNN conservative commentator S.E. Cupp, who had this to say Saturday during an appearance on the network:
“I think the Roe ruling was a huge — they [Republicans] might like the outcome, but politically I can’t imagine a better turnout engine than this ruling for Democrats. And you can make the argument that the Republicans’ legislative victories and the Supreme Court victory by a conservative court are regressive, they’re taking us backwards. Whether you like them or not, you can’t deny the fact that they’re going backwards, right? They’re taking us back to a different time when these weren’t rights.”
Featured Image: NBC News
