Ohio Republican Senate candidate Bernie Moreno attacked suburban women in his state who support access to abortion on Friday, calling them “a little crazy” while questioning why older women are even worried about access to the procedure during a county town hall.
“The left has a lot of single issue voters,” Moreno said, according to a video recording obtained by WCMH, the NBC affiliate in Columbus, Ohio. “Sadly, by the way, there’s a lot of suburban women, a lot of suburban women that are like, ‘Listen, abortion is it. If I can’t have an abortion in this country whenever I want, I will vote for anybody else.’ … OK. It’s a little crazy by the way, but — especially for women that are like past 50 — I’m thinking to myself, ‘I don’t think that’s an issue for you.’”
Moreno’s remarks were met with swift backlash, including from his Democratic opponent, incumbent Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH).
Brown posted footage of Moreno’s remarks on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Monday, noting that the Ohio Republican peddles misogynistic tropes, and thinks it is “crazy” for women to want to “make their own healthcare decisions.”
Bernie Moreno thinks it’s “crazy” that women want to make their own healthcare decisions. pic.twitter.com/AUEX3snGQ9
— Sherrod Brown (@SherrodBrown) September 23, 2024
Meanwhile, Moreno’s campaign attempted to clean up the GOP candidate’s remarks, claiming it was a “tongue-in-cheek joke” meant to criticize Democrats, in a statement to WCMH.
“Bernie was clearly making a tongue-in-cheek joke about how Sherrod Brown and members of the left-wing media like to pretend that the only issue that matters to women voters is abortion,” Reagan McCarthy, a spokesperson for Moreno’s campaign, told WCMH. “Bernie’s view is that women voters care just as much about the economy, rising prices, crime and our open southern border as male voters do, and it’s disgusting that Democrats and their friends in the left-wing media constantly treat all women as if they’re automatically single issue voters on abortion who don’t have other concerns that they vote on.”
The hotly contested Ohio Senate race has been one of the most closely watched races this cycle as Republicans attempt to take back control of the upper chamber. Recent polling indicates the race for Brown’s seat is neck-and-neck with just over a month to go until Election Day.
But the same troubles are tripping up Moreno as other national Republicans this cycle as they try to switch up their messaging on abortion ahead of the general election to try to attract more women voters, while also avoiding alienating their evangelical, ardently anti-abortion base.
At a Monday campaign rally in Pennsylvania, former President Donald Trump tried to convince women voters that he’s not a threat to abortion access, claiming he will be their “protector.”
“You will be protected, and I will be your protector,” Trump said, later adding that women “will no longer be thinking about abortion” if he gets a second term in the Oval Office, largely ignoring the fact that he is the reason abortion is in the crosshairs in the first place.
Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-OH) has also repeatedly face planted while talking about abortion and women in recent weeks, as more and more past clips of him leaning hard into misogynistic tropes surface — ranging from criticizing “childless cat ladies” to supporting the unhinged argument that the whole purpose of the “postmenopausal female” is to help raise grandchildren.
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