Virginia lawmaker says Republicans lost last week because 15-week abortion ban wasn’t strict enough

Republican Rep. Bob Good of Virginia shared some of his keen insights Monday about the drubbing his party took last week in the commonwealth after Democrats emerged with full control of the General Assembly.

"The narrative now is, 'Oh, abortion's a loser. We gotta surrender on abortion. We gotta give in on abortion. We gotta be more like the Democrats on abortion, then maybe we could win elections,'" Good said at a Heritage Foundation event televised by C-Span.

Agreed—that's the narrative, and not for nothing. The “red wave” of the 2022 midterms turned into a puddle of GOP tears on Election Day because of abortion. Earlier this year, Wisconsin Judge Janet Protasiewicz won election to the state Supreme Court, notching an 11-percentage-point victory in a swing state after abortion rights took center stage in the race. In reliably red Ohio, abortion rights prevailed not once but twice this year after voters first rejected Republican efforts to raise the threshold for passing ballot measures and then, last week, enshrined abortion rights in the constitution by a 13-point margin.