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Democrats aim to keep spotlight on abortion as focus shifts to 2024

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Julia Manchester
·6 min read

Democrats are seeking to keep abortion access front of mind for voters in upcoming elections after the party successfully used the issue to galvanize its base and peel off independent voters in the 2022 midterm elections.

Pro-choice advocates and Democrats saw success on the issue in races up and down the ballot following the overturning of Roe v. Wade, warning that elected Republican officials would work to implement a ban at the national and state levels.

And while the midterms may have come and gone, Democrats are insisting there is much campaigning to do with the issue on the campaign trail over the next two years.

“Women’s reproductive rights [are] essential to the American people — American women and men,” said Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) on a press call with the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee last week. “They rose and they said that in this election and we are here to protect that for them, and we will continue to do that, and I believe it will continue to be an issue until we can codify Roe into law for all Americans.”

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While many strategists and pundits expressed skepticism that abortion would be a driving issue for voters in the midterms, the issue proved to play a key role in Democrats’ wins.

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Twenty-seven percent of voters said abortion was the issue that mattered the most this year, topped only by inflation at 32 percent, according to exit polling from NBC News. Exit polling from CNN yielded nearly identical results, with 31 percent naming inflation as their top issue and 27 percent saying the same about abortion.

“If you look at this election in 2022, it’s very clear that abortion and the economy were top of mind for voters and Democrats were winning on the economy,” said Christina Polizzi, communications director at the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee. “Abortion rights is an economic issue.”

There were signs that abortion did stand to be a strong issue in the lead-up to the general election, such as the rejection of a restrictive abortion ballot measure in Kansas and the victory of now-Rep. Pat Ryan (D) in a New York special election, where he made the issue a centerpiece of his campaign.

“Voters don’t take lightly to their half-century-year-old rights being ripped away and don’t think that these deeply personal decisions should be controlled by politicians,” said Colin Seeberger, senior adviser for communications at the Center for American Progress.

“That is the message that in every single state was a winning message,” he added.

According to a memo released by the House Majority PAC, out of the 211 television ads the Democratic group ran in 2022, 103 hit on economic issues, while 89 mentioned abortion.