Global Courant 2023-04-30 22:34:53
Ronna McDaniel, chair of the Republican National Committee, said on Sunday that Republicans running in the 2024 presidential election should address the issue of access to abortion “frontally,” noting that many GOP candidates did not run in the 2022 midterm elections .
“Abortion was a big problem in key states like Michigan and Pennsylvania, and so the guideline we’re going to give our candidates is that you have to tackle this head-on,” McDaniel said in an interview on Fox News Sunday”, referring to the midterm elections in which the Republicans failed to secure a majority in the Senate.
“The Democrats spent $360 million on this, and a lot of our candidates across the board refused to talk about it, thinking, ‘Oh, we can just talk about the economy and ignore this big problem,’ and they can’t,” she said. .
McDaniel urged Republicans to take a hard line against access to abortion. “Put them on the defensive and articulate where you stand, and that will be the critical message we need to get out before 2024,” she said.
Abortion access emerged as a major issue in the November election after the Supreme Court in June overturned Roe v. Wade, a landmark decision that guaranteed federal protection for the procedure.
As the 2024 campaign begins to heat up, Republican presidential candidates, who must consider a base that favors banning the procedure and a majority of the nation that wants it to remain legal, are grappling with the issue.
GOP presidential candidate Asa Hutchinson said Sunday he would sign a federal ban on abortion if elected president, while noting that he advocates exceptions for maternal safety and rape and incest cases.
“I believe the American public is out there,” the former governor of Arkansas said in an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “I don’t think anything will come out of Congress without those exceptions. And I would certainly sign a pro-life bill, but I would expect those exceptions to be in place.
GOP candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, a biotech entrepreneur and conservative commentator, asked in an interview on NBC News’ “Meet the Press” Sunday what he would do about abortion at the federal level: “I believe abortion is a form of murder. Murder however, is regulated by the states, not the federal government. I believe in the Constitution.”
McDaniel also urged all candidates to participate in the GOP primary debates after former President Donald Trump recently hinted again that he could skip them. “I see everyone is talking about the Republican debates, but no one got my approval, or the Trump campaign’s approval, before they were announced,” Trump said in a statement. after to his Truth Social platform last week.
“That’s his choice. And every candidate is going to make that calculation,” McDaniel said Sunday. “What I think the American people want to see are these candidates; they want to see what they articulate, and most importantly what is your plan to get us out of Joe Biden’s misery.”
McDaniel said she believes “everyone should get on that debate stage”.
The RNC has scheduled two debates so far. The first debate will take place in August in Milwaukee. The second debate will take place on the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, but a date has not yet been announced.
