After the Supreme Court overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling this year, Democrats are already spending heavily on abortion rights-related advertising several months before the midterm elections. In addition, the Democrats’ success in Tuesday night’s special election in New York might bolster their abortion rhetoric prior to the November election. Some Republicans have begun to counter this line of Democratic argumentation.
Since the draft copy of the Supreme Court’s ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization was leaked in early May, Democrats have spent almost $30 million on more than 100 television ads mentioning abortion. According to monitoring by AdImpact.
Additionally, Democrats have spent nearly $7 million on Facebook advertisements using the word “abortion.” As an electoral issue, both party committees, Super PACs, and candidates have invested heavily in abortion.
Earlier this month, Kansas voters overwhelmingly rejected an amendment that would have removed the state’s constitutional right to abortion, indicating that abortion rights were an issue that motivated Americans to vote, even in a conservative state during the summer primary. However, doubts remained as to whether abortion rights would motivate voters to vote for candidates regardless of whether abortion was on the ballot.
In New York’s 19th Congressional District, located in the Hudson Valley, Democratic candidate Pat Ryan made abortion rights a focal point of his campaign in the special election, which served as the final litmus test for a swing district before November’s general election. He ultimately defeated Republican Marc Molinaro by almost two percentage points this week.
Ryan told CBS News following his victory, “This was really a referendum on freedom in America, and we delivered a loud and clear message that when individuals try to take away rights and freedoms we have battled, struggled, and protested for, Americans will rise up and say that is not who we are as a society.” He expressed confidence that the momentum will continue.
Even before the 19th District triumph, Democrats were spending enormous sums of money on abortion advertisements, and the rhetoric has only grown in the days since.
In one of the most competitive House races this election year, Virginia Democrat Abigail Spanberger released a new ad on Friday attacking her Republican opponent on the issue of abortion, saying, among other things, that Yesli Vega supports a total ban on abortion. The production was hurried after the New York special election.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee launched on Wednesday a six-figure ad buy targeting Latino voters in swing districts and underscoring the role of Republicans in restricting abortion. It’s part of a seven-figure buy the House campaign arm has been rolling out that is explicitly targeted at people of color and the topic at hand. There have also been advertisements directed toward AAPI and Black voters.
In addition, the Democratic Senate campaign arm believes that abortion rights will play a significant role in every Senate battleground election. An official remarked that it is a straightforward way to compare contenders in the contest.
A group linked with the Democratic-led Senate Majority PAC began airing its most recent ad in North Carolina on Friday, emphasizing Republican Senate candidate Ted Budd’s prior support for legislation prohibiting abortion. The overall cost of the purchase is $750,000. This month, Senate Majority PAC began launching further pro-life advertisements in North Carolina and Arizona.
Beto O’Rourke, the Democratic contender for governor of Texas, released his first television advertisements on Thursday, targeting incumbent Gov. Greg Abbott over abortion access in the state. They were broadcast on the same day the Texas prohibition on abortions with a trigger went into force.
In the past week, Georgia governor candidate Stacey Abrams launched a new TV ad attacking Republican governor Brian Kemp on abortion; Democratic Senator Catherine Cortez-Masto, who is running for reelection in Nevada, released an ad targeting her opponent, former Republican state Attorney General Adam Laxalt, using audio of him calling the Roe v. Wade decision a joke; and in Colorado, Senator Michael Bennet joined the growing number of Democrats running ads on abortion with his own ad
While Democrats have spent tens of millions on abortion-related advertising, Republicans have spent a fraction of that amount on the topic, neither highlighting the new conservative majority on the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision nor Republican action at the state level.
Since the leak of the Roe v. Wade draft ruling in May, Republicans have spent little over $5,300,000 on abortion-related television advertisements. Less than $1 million has been spent on Facebook advertising using the word “abortion.” Part of this messaging has seen Republicans attacking fellow GOP candidates for not being sufficiently pro-life.
Some Republicans appear to be softening their opinions on abortion as the general election season approaches, while others have left their statements ambiguous. Several candidates feel the need to directly reply to Democratic assaults as the heat mounts.
In one of the most recent abortion-related ads published by a Republican, Washington Senate candidate Tiffany Smiley makes a direct appeal to camera in response to a negative ad released by Democratic Senator Patty Murray.
Murray’s advertisement accuses Smiley of supporting the Texas abortion ban and claiming that a single vote in Congress will “criminalize abortion.” In it, the narrator urges the audience to “oppose Tiffany Smiley before it’s too late.”
Thursday, Smiley published her own commercial in response, claiming that Murray has spent millions of dollars to portray her as an extremist.
Smiley states while staring directly into the camera, “I’m pro-life, but I reject a federal abortion ban.” “Patty Murray wishes to frighten you, whereas I wish to serve you.” Smiley stated that the overturning of Roe v. Wade means that representatives of the people will decide how to regulate abortion, but she did not specify what rules she would like to see. She has, however, previously stated that she supports the near-total abortion prohibition in Texas.
Thursday, Arizona Republican Senate candidate Blake Masters released a pro-abortion ad in an attempt to portray Democratic Senator Mark Kelly as the extremist. Kelly had advertised that Masters was too dangerous for Arizona.
I support a ban on very late-term and partial-birth abortions, as do the majority of Americans, said Masters. He has described the 1973 Roe v. Wade judgment as horrifying and has previously voiced support for a federal personhood amendment, but he has not specified the number of weeks after which abortion should be prohibited. Thursday was the first day that NBC News reported the removal of personhood legislation text from his website.
Republicans are not only responding to abortion-related attacks in advertisements. Last week, Laxalt responded to Cortez-attack Mastro’s advertisements on abortion with a column aimed to turn the tables. In it, he reaffirmed that abortion is legal in Nevada. He also reaffirmed his support for a referendum that would further restrict abortion in the state to 13 weeks.
Recent polling indicates that abortion has risen in relevance among the issues Americans are considering in advance of the midterm elections. The majority of Americans oppose overturning Roe v. Wade and favor abortion being legal in their states in all or the vast majority of cases.
Scott MacFarlane provided reporting assistance.
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