MILWAUKEE — Democratic officials hammered Republicans over the topic of abortion during a pre-debate press conference, a theme that's likely to be repeated throughout the campaign.
The Democratic National Committee hosted top party brass and local elected officials at a Milwaukee hotel Wednesday afternoon, hitting on several themes they will use to go after GOP presidential candidates.
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But abortion featured first and most prominently.
"I’m sure that they’re going to talk about freedom on the debate stage tonight,” Madison, Wisconsin, Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway said in her opening statement. “But what about the freedom to make my own healthcare decisions? I guess their version of freedom doesn’t include women."
Rhodes-Conway then listed many of the candidates by name, starting with Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) and including Nikki Haley, Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), and Vivek Ramaswamy, spelling out in detail where each stood on abortion restrictions.
"Fighting for freedom, for more rights, not less, has been a cornerstone of Joe Biden's presidency," she said.
Wednesday night's debate will be the first since the Supreme Court's Dobbs decision threw abortion policy back to the states. But it won't be a new campaign topic for Democrats.
Vice President Kamala Harris led the charge last fall to make abortion a key issue in the midterms, visiting well over a dozen states to make pro-choice speeches. Democrats held off an expected "red wave" in November, with many attributing the relative success to abortion.
The press conference indicated that is likely to be repeated as the 2024 presidential campaign comes into focus.
DeSantis has probably the strictest background, signing a six-week abortion ban into Florida law in the spring. However, he's distanced himself somewhat from that stance when it comes to the federal level.
Other candidates have been more stringent, with Scott saying he'd support a 15-week federal ban.
Republicans should not be retreating on life. We need a national 15-week limit to stop blue states from pushing abortion on demand.@sbaprolife defends the most fundamental right: life. Without life, nothing else matters. It's not a special interest. It's the only interest.
— Tim Scott (@votetimscott) July 31, 2023
Donald Trump has arguably been the Republican who is the least aggressive about abortion, saying it's an issue that should be left to the states and arguing that abortion, not the candidates he backed, were to blame for GOP losses in the midterms.
Speakers at the DNC press conference hit on other topics, including job growth, "book bans," and climate change, before a sign reading "Race to the MAGA Base." But abortion repeatedly rose to the surface.
“They want to take away our freedoms and push a nationwide ban on abortion," DNC chairman Jaime Harrison said, "even as voters have repeatedly made it clear in red states, in blue states, and purple states, that we’re not interested in their anti-woman, anti-choice agenda.”
Harrison singled out DeSantis for “taking away Floridians’ freedoms” and Haley for signing into law “an extreme abortion ban.”
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GOP candidates tonight are expected to be asked about their abortion policies, and their answers could have a major impact on their campaigns.
Republicans spent nearly 50 years pledging to overturn Roe v. Wade and will now have to find new solutions when it comes to abortion policy.