Virginia’s legislative elections are less than a month away, which means we’ll soon know whether Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s decision to aggressively involve himself in the effort to win unified control of state government will succeed.
In 2021, Youngkin won 20 of the state’s 40 Senate districts. In 2020, Joe Biden won 24 of them. If Republicans can win 20 seats, they will have a bare majority.
But it’s also going to be an important test of GOP messaging on abortion. Ever since the Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, the issue of abortion has been an effective cudgel for Democrats and a toxic topic for the GOP.
Since their less-than-impressive midterm performance, many Republicans have argued that they have to address abortion head-on instead of ignoring it in hopes that it fades in importance.
Youngkin’s contribution to this strategy includes his super PAC spending over $1 million on advertising contrasting Virginia Republicans’ “reasonable 15-week limit” on abortion with Democrats’ “no limits at all.”
However, a new statewide poll by Christopher Newport’s
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