WATCH: Nancy Mace blames abortion for influencing swing voters in midterms
Heather Hunter
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Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) told Meet the Press on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade that the abortion issue influenced the decisions of swing voters and led to the weak Republican midterm election results.
“It’s the reason we didn’t get more of a majority. We could have had a two dozen seat majority, but we don’t. This was an issue top of mind for swing voters,” Mace told NBC host Chuck Todd.
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She cautioned that the issue could be a problem in the upcoming presidential election as well. “When you’re looking ahead to ’24, going to the extremes and digging in there isn’t going to work for most people,” she said.
The South Carolina lawmaker blamed the problems in Washington, D.C., on division over many other issues beyond abortion.
“When I look at every issue, not just on Roe v Wade, but every issue, we’re so divided,” she told Todd. “I sometimes joke that [Joe Manchin] is the most popular Republican in the Senate right now, but to hear him talk about these issues in a very refreshing, balanced way, is the way both sides of the aisle need to approach every issue.”
Rep. Nancy Mace points to abortion as causing soft Republican midterm results.
Mace reiterated that she is “pro-life” but “willing to sit and talk about how do we balance the rights for women and the right to life.”
“Both sides are afraid of their primaries. That’s not the way we should be operating, but the vast majority vote out of legislative fear,” she said.
Chuck Todd interjected, “You think you may get primaried?”
Mace then defended her ability to fend off primary challengers.
“I got primaried last time and the time before that. I expect it every time, being in a swing district,” she responded. “But I will tell you, even with the far right coming after me in the last primary, I won overwhelmingly, by nine points. When we had the general election, I flipped 40% of the Democrat precincts and outperformed the former president in my district as well. So I found a way to try to represent all the voices. I can’t represent one side or the other.”
ABC News exit poll results showed that abortion ranked as a strong second to the top issue of inflation for many Americans, especially those under 30 years old.
In early January, former President Trump received blowback when he blamed the “abortion issue” on Republicans under performing in the 2022 midterm elections.
“It wasn’t my fault that the Republicans didn’t live up to expectations in the midterms,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. “It was the ‘abortion issue’, poorly handled by many Republicans, especially those that firmly insisted on no exceptions, even in the case of rape, incest, or life of the mother, that lost large numbers of voters. Also, the people that pushed so hard, for decades, against abortion, got their wish from the Supreme Court, & just plain disappeared.”
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Lila Rose, president of the anti-abortion advocacy group Live Action, responded to the former president in a Jan. 2 tweet, “Trump is way out of line here on life. He does not have a pulse on where his potential base is — as many believed he has in the past.”
“This kind of nonsense will be a losing political strategy for him,” she added.