Are there more at home like you, Susan Fisher?
“As voters come to undestand what MAGA has wrought, national political climate likely to get worse for the GOP,” said Simon Rosenberg of NDN in a Friday Zoom followup to Thursday Twitter comments.
Anecdotal confirmation
Nevada Republican activist Susan Fisher will support Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto’s bid for reelection because of her stand in favor of abortion rights. Fisher canvassed for the 1990 provision added to Nevada’s constitution that codified the right in her state. The Republicans’ 2022 candidate for U.S. Senate would reverse the state constitution.
On a scale of one to 10, how angry is Fisher? “About a nine and a half,” she told CNN. How many more women like her are out there? “A whole lot more than we know,” Fisher believes.
Elsewhere, Republicans struggle to divert attention from the Supreme Court’s attack on women and to stay focused on gas prices:
Republicans are torn between their policy goals and political ones in the wake of the Supreme Court’s ruling overturning Roe v. Wade, with activists’ rush to capitalize on the ruling running into the political reality that abortion rights remain popular in many of this year’s midterm battlegrounds.
“I don’t think this alters the midterm advantage for Republicans because of Biden’s economic woes,” said former Virginia Republican Rep. Tom Davis. “But in a cycle that is all about turnout, it is a net benefit for Democrats. Angry voters vote.”
For months, all signs have been pointing to a landslide victory in November for Republicans. But some in the GOP now worry that even if they retake the House and make overall gains, abortion politics could cost them a handful of key races — and with a 50-50 Senate, every race matters.
“This a massive gift to the Democrats and one they could not have conjured up for themselves,” said veteran GOP strategist Mike Madrid, noting the portion of Americans saying they want Democrats in control of Congress has risen in polls taken since the decision. “With inflation as high as it is, for the first time I think it’s a jump ball. The Democrats are now back in it.”
“If I were a betting man,” Madrid added. “I would say Republicans pick up a majority, but maybe it’s not as big as it could or should be.”
He’s paid to say that.
The tale of a 10-year-old rape victim from Ohio has Republicans scrambling for a response that does not further alienate women across the country. And gas prices are coming down.
Opposition to “the ugliness of MAGA” drove voter turnout in the last two elections, Rosenberg notes. It likely could again. This is not a typical mid-term election.
Still, it’s a long way to November.
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