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The Nov. 7 elections brought sweeping gains and victories for Democrats nationwide, especially in battleground states like Virginia and Ohio. While Republicans did earn some victories, their strict positions on abortion cost them at the polls.
Straight Arrow News contributor Newt Gingrich observes that Democrats won most in the states where they focused on pro-choice messaging and where Republicans failed to counter those messages effectively. He now advises Republicans to compromise on abortion and find a “middle ground” solution acceptable to a majority of Americans, while also shifting the public debate towards other issues, like crime and immigration.
On the other hand, the great effort in Virginia which everybody had paid attention to, where Gov. Glenn Youngkin — who had been very popular, raised a great deal of money, campaigned very aggressively — wanted to keep control of the General Assembly and win control of the Senate, lost in both grounds. The Democrats gained control of the General Assembly, and they solidified their control of the Senate. And Gov. Youngkin’s gonna have a tough two years negotiating with a Democratic legislature.
So, people have to look at that and ask: “What does that mean?” The other really worrisome challenge was in Ohio, where a referendum to put abortion rights into the constitution of the state of Ohio passed by about 55-45.
It’s one more example that every time the Democrats have focused aggressively on abortion and Republicans have failed to deal with it, the Republicans have found themselves in trouble. Glenn Youngkin tried to deal with it in Virginia and didn’t quite succeed. The Republicans in New York dealt with it very aggressively, and then went back to focusing on the issues that they thought matter, which were taxes, housing, crime and immigration.
