Tuesday, October 15, 2024

Ohio’s 50+ women emboldened by MAGA candidate's comments on abortion

REMOVE FOOT FROM MOUTH BEFORE SHOOTING IT

Susan Tebben, 
Ohio Capital Journal
October 14, 2024 

Bernie Moreno for U.S. Senate campaign

Ohio women 50 and older are headed to the polls having lived through the days before Roe v. Wade legalized abortion nationwide in 1973, during the time when abortion was legal, and now, after the decision was overturned in 2022 and power given to each state to decide.

That has played a factor in many women’s decisions at the ballot box, though it’s only one factor of many, voters told the Capital Journal in interviews last week.

“I am not a single issue voter, by any means,” said Mansfield resident and registered Republican Linda Smith.

But abortion rights has come to the forefront, and in fact has galvanized older women voters in the weeks leading up to the November general election.

U.S. Senate candidate Bernie Moreno made comments about abortion rights and the interests of suburban women, which have since been used in campaign ads against him.

Those comments have also renewed conversations about the topic with women who may not be experiencing pregnancy or the need for an abortion, but who remember times when reproductive health care was more risky, and are looking to the future for their daughters and granddaughters.

“Women don’t make their health care choices and decisions lightly and they’re often complicated decisions.” Smith said. “They’re life-altering.”

Moreno’s comments were made at a town hall in Warren County and first made public by WCMH via a viewer-submitted video.

“You know, the left has a lot of single issue voters,” Moreno said. “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.’”

After a pause, he added, “Oh, thank God my wife didn’t hear that part.”

Moreno’s campaign did not respond to a request by the OCJ for comment, but in a previous statement to The Statehouse News Bureau, spokesperson Reagan McCarthy said Moreno was “clearly making a tongue-in-cheek joke about how Sherrod Brown and members of the leftwing media like to pretend that the only issue that matters to women voters is abortion.”

After Moreno’s comments, an open letter was released by Republican, independent and Democratic-voting women, saying Moreno “mocked many of us who are over the age of fifty” and criticizing him for trying to “play your comments off as a joke” after the fact.

“As Ohio women across the political spectrum, we don’t agree on everything,” the letter stated. “But there are some things bigger than party politics. What unites us is the firm belief that Ohio women should have the ability to make their own health care choices, free from the involvement of people like you.”

Smith was one of the Republican voters to sign on to the letter.

“It’s distressing to me to see that this (issue) has become a political pawn,” Smith told the Capital Journal.

The issue is coming up among other priorities for older Ohioans, such as inflation, the economy and Social Security.

An August survey commissioned by the AARP showed 16% of Ohio’s 50+ voters polled placed it as their first or second choice among important issues driving their votes in the general election. Nine percent of 50+ survey takers put it as their most important issue in the election, putting it above other single issues like Social Security, taxes, gun control, crime, general health care, foreign policy, Medicare and climate change.

The AARP poll also found that 94% of 50+ Ohio voters plan to vote in the upcoming election.

Overall, incumbent Ohio Democratic U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown held a narrow lead over Moreno, 46%-42%, but among 50+ voters specifically, the race was reportedly much closer, with Moreno holding a five-point edge in the August AARP numbers.

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Seville resident Mosie Welch is a registered Democrat in her 60s, and she readily admits reproductive rights tops the list of issues she is using to decide her votes. She connects reproductive health care to family issues, along with the economic health of the state and the concept of individual rights.

“Yes, this is one of the big issues driving my vote, especially at the national level, because I fear what will happen if women no longer have the right to make decisions about their own bodies as they don’t in some states today,” Welch said.

As a mother and grandmother, she wants to see future women have the “full range of health care necessary to ensure that they can live their life as fully as possible.”

“I’m not expecting to personally need this health care, but I would imagine there’s many families worried about this issue,” Welch said.

She also fears for the rights of physicians, who expressed concern about litigation and the potential loss of medical licenses, along with patient care delays, as the debate over abortion rights went on after the Dobbs decision overturned Roe v. Wade.

“When that happens and a woman dies, or a woman loses their fertility, or is racking up huge medical bills, that doesn’t just affect one individual,” Welch said. “It affects everybody, it affects the community.”

Combining her decades of life experience and the rhetoric of the 2024 election has only served to motivate Welch and her fellow voters, like Susan Polakoff Shaw.

“I know a lot of women who are rage-filled, and it’s women around my age who know what it’s like, who have heard what it was like pre-Roe,” said Shaw, who did work for Ohio Physicians for Reproductive Rights during the 2023 election. “It’s about being able to control your life and have a say in your future and your destiny, and your health and your family.”

More than just reproductive rights as an issue for older women, Smith said her decisions in the upcoming election are informed by elected officials who “frequently disregard the will of the people,” including legislative attempts and comments that seek to undermine the reproductive rights amendment passed by a majority of state voters last year.

“You can disagree, but when 57% of the electorate votes for that, you need to respect that,” Smith said.

But Smith said she is optimistic for the future of Ohio and even the Republican Party, partly because of the discussion brought on by Moreno’s comments.

“People who rise above their differences to fight for common causes – like you are seeing now for women’s reproductive freedoms,” Smith said, “it’s that collective voice and vote that will make a difference.”

Ohio Capital Journal is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Ohio Capital Journal maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor David Dewitt for questions: info@ohiocapitaljournal.com. Follow Ohio Capital Journal on Facebook and X.

Moreno’s abortion comment rattles debate in expensive Senate race in Republican-leaning Ohio


This combination photo shows Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, Oct. 26, 2023, on Capitol Hill in Washington, left, and Cleveland businessman Bernie Moreno, a Republican candidate for Senate, in Westlake, Ohio, March 19, 2024. (AP Photo)

Bernie Moreno speaking during the Republican National Convention, July 16, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, speaks with supporters at a campaign rally, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Jeff Dean)


BY JULIE CARR SMYTH
October 13, 2024

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — An off-the-cuff comment about reproductive rights by Republican Bernie Moreno in Ohio’s tight Senate race has put abortion at the center of debate in the most expensive Senate campaign this year. And that’s just where Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown wanted it.

Moreno insists he was joking after cellphone video surfaced of him criticizing women whose votes are driven by concerns about government involvement in abortion decisions.

“Sadly, by the way, there’s a lot of suburban women, a lot of suburban women that are like, ‘Listen, abortion is it,’” Moreno said at a town hall in Warren County on Sept. 20. ”‘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 who are like past 50, I’m thinking to myself, ‘I don’t think that’s an issue for you.’”

Brown and his allies pounced on the comment, which went to the heart of the Democrat’s bid for a fourth term representing the Republican-leaning state. A woman featured in one TV ad wondered why, if a 50-year-old woman doesn’t have standing to feel strongly about abortion, a 57-year-old man — that’s Moreno’s age — running for Senate would.

Even fellow Republican Nikki Haley, the former presidential candidate, criticized Moreno as #ToneDeaf. “Are you trying to lose the election? Asking for a friend,” she quipped on X


Brown has made access to abortion a priority, and Moreno’s comment meant the campaign was focused less on the economy and immigration, issues the Republican and his party would rather talk about.

Throughout the race, Brown has said he voted for and would honor an amendment that Ohioans supported by wide margins last year that enshrined into the state constitution people’s right to make their own reproductive choices. Presidential nominee Kamala Harris and Democrats on down the ballot are banking on the abortion issue to win votes in the first White House election since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022.

“The people of Ohio think women should have the power to make their own health care decisions, Bernie Moreno thinks he should,” Brown said in a statement. “As a man over the age of 50, I care deeply about a woman’s right to make health care decisions for herself -– for my daughters, my granddaughters, and all Ohio women, regardless of their age.”

Unseating Brown is a Republican priority. With Democrats defending twice as many Senate seats as Republicans, a loss in Ohio would jeopardize Democrats’ narrow majority.
The most expensive Senate contest

Ad spending topped $400 million in early October, making the Senate race the most expensive in the country so far, according to data from AdImpact, which tracks campaign spending on advertising. That total includes a competitive Republican primary earlier this year.

In the general election, the data shows Republicans have outspent Democrats on Brown-Moreno race. As of Friday, Republicans had spent roughly $188.4 million on ads since the March 19 primary, compared with $159.7 million by Democrats. The parties and affiliated groups have an additional $68.5 million in ad spots reserved between now and Nov. 5.

Moreno, a wealthy Cleveland businessman endorsed by Donald Trump — was undeterred by the controversy that ensued after his abortion comments surfaced. His campaign said the comment was made tongue in cheek, and that Brown and Harris are the ones disrespecting women.

“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,” spokesperson Reagan McCarthy said in a statement.
Republicans have reasons for optimism

Ohio Republicans have plenty of reasons to be optimistic about the race. The onetime bellwether state has shifted to the right and supported Trump twice by wide margins, and he’s once more atop the ticket.

Trump’s endorsement has carried weight in Ohio — from JD Vance, the first-term senator who is Trump’s running mate, to GOP state Rep. Derek Merrin, who prevailed in a messy primary to challenge Marcy Kaptur, a long-serving Democratic congresswoman. Trump’s backing boosted Moreno to victory in a hard-fought primary.

Republicans have hammered Brown on his record, claiming he voted to allow “biological men in women’s sports” and supported providing stimulus checks and federal benefits for immigrants who are in the United States illegally. Both claims stretch the truth: Brown didn’t vote to allow transgender people to play women’s sports but to prevent federal dollars from being stripped from schools that allowed it, and the immigrant-related vote in question involved a nuanced issue in legislation that already prevented stimulus checks going to immigrants without lawful status in the country.

Still, the attacks have been repeated often enough to register with voters.

“Bernie Moreno has rapidly closed the gap on Sherrod Brown even as Chuck Schumer and DC Democrats spend millions lobbing baseless smears and racist attacks at Moreno,” National Republian Senatorial Committee spokesperson Philip Letsou said in a statement. The reference was to pro-Brown ads questioning the business dealings of some family members of Moreno, who was born in Bogota, Colombia.

Senate Majority PAC, an independent group aligned with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, reserved $65 million in advertising time in Ohio from Labor Day to the end of the campaign. The group’s president, JB Poersch, said Brown’s reputation, strong campaign and superior fundraising prowess will help put the veteran politician over the top.

“We have a pretty big communication advantage in that state,” he said.

More than 90% of Republican spending — all but $1.9 million of Moreno’s ad support — has come from outside groups, according to AdImpact data.

Brown has raised $51 million for his own campaign account, compared with Moreno’s $15.3 million, which includes $4.5 million Moreno loaned to his own campaign. The Republican has reported spending about $10 million of that so far, with his latest campaign finance report not yet filed.

The debate over immigration in Springfield

Republicans are expected to keep tying Brown to the Biden-Harris administration’s immigration policy, a key vulnerability this year for Democrats.

When it came to the turmoil in Springfield, Ohio, Moreno tried to blame Brown and Harris, slamming the “Haitian invasion” as a failure of the federal government to prepare before expanding the number of Haitians able to apply for Temporary Protected Status in the United States.

Brown did not name Trump and Vance, who intensified the spotlight on the city with unsubstantiated claims about Haitians eating pets, but he faulted “people playing politics” for making things worse. At one point, state and local government offices and schools in Springfield closed due to dozens of bomb threats.


Moreno, meanwhile, has faced other challenges, including an Associated Press report about a profile created with Moreno’s email account on an adult website. Moreno’s lawyer said the profile was created by a former intern as a prank.

The candidate retained support from Trump after the report and was given a coveted speaking spot at the Republican National Convention in July.


JULIE CARR SMYTH
Smyth has covered government and politics from Columbus, Ohio, for The Associated Press since 2006.

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