Republicans are distancing themselves from Sen. Lindsey Graham’s new proposal to ban most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, as Democrats hold up the bill as proof the GOP seeks to restrict abortion nationwide if it wins control of Congress in the November midterm elections.
In Graham’s proposal, Democrats see another chance to leverage an issue that has appeared to boost their chances of holding at least one chamber of Congress.
The South Carolina Republican introduced the legislation less than three months after the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade, overturning decades-old federal abortion protections — and positioning abortion as a top issue in the midterms.
Graham’s announcement on Tuesday drove a fresh wave of headlines about abortion, as Democrats lined up to condemn the bill that would sharply narrow access to the procedure in blue states. It siphoned attention away from another major headline of the day, a worse-than-expected inflation report that sent stocks plunging and was seen as a blow to the Biden administration’s claims of a recovering economy.
Graham’s approach also contradicted a strategy taken by some Republicans, including those in high-profile races, after the high court’s abortion ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. Many in the GOP have argued states, rather than the federal government, should set abortion law.
In Pennsylvania, one of a handful of battleground states that will determine which party wins the Senate, the new bill spurred Republican Senate candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz to say that he would keep the federal government from interfering with state-level abortion rules if elected. But Herschel Walker, the Republican vying for incumbent Sen. Raphael Warnock’s Georgia seat in another critical race, said he would back Graham’s legislation.
In both states, the Democratic candidates used the issue to bash their GOP rivals.
“Oz needs to tell us — yes or no, would you support this bill?” Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, the state’s Democratic Senate nominee, said in a statement Thursday morning. “I’ll go first: I’m a HELL NO.”
Graham’s move baffled even some Republican political experts. Some media outlets panned it as an unforced error at a pivotal moment when the fight over the House and Senate appears to have tightened.
“I don’t know why he did it,” said Georgia-based GOP strategist Jay Williams. He suggested that Republicans’ midterm pitch should focus mostly on the economy, where President Joe Biden has scored low approval marks.
“If you’re winning the game, you don’t switch strategies,” Williams said. “If we’re talking about anything else, I think it’s a bad idea.”
Seth Weathers, a former Trump campaign aide in Georgia and political strategist, said he is “a little fearful that the way it’s going to be sold to the public could hurt Republicans in the midterms.”
Julianne Thompson, a political strategist and self-described pro-life Republican, said the economy “is the issue that is winning for…
Read More: Lindsey Graham abortion ban bill splits GOP on midterm message