The 2022 Midterm Election is the Democrats to Lose

Since the 1973 landmark ruling, Roe v. Wade, abortion has been a constitutional right. The leak of Alito’s draft opinion dated February 10, 2022 paints a clear picture of a conservative court wanting to overturn that constitutional right. The leaked opinion has put the Supreme Court in the political crosshairs of the 2022 midterms.

As Republicans saber rattled and lamented over the lawlessness of the leak, Democrats seized the opportunity and raised over $7 million in the hours after Alito’s opinion was made public.

The fervor of the moment has a lot of people on edge. There has never been any other point in recent history where women have watched in real-time as their rights were being stripped and ownership of their bodies being handed over to the government for regulation.

Protestors across the country took to the streets to make their voices heard. In the Senate, Democrats are set to vote to codify Roe v. Wade into law, but Senate Republicans are likely to block the bill to enshrine abortion rights into federal law.

For Republicans, their decades-long battle to ban abortion is nearing the end, and while Democrats are working to protect a woman’s right to choose, the GOP is focused on who leaked the draft and pointing to the fact the draft is not a final decision.

While the final opinion is still roughly two months away, abortion has become a top ticket issue in the midterm elections. The war on women’s bodies has begun and there is an opportunity for Democrats to appeal to voters who may otherwise have sat out in November by leaning into women’s rights.

In the coming months, Democrats should use the reinvigorated conversation about women’s rights and abortion to talk with and court suburban women, a voting block that has decided the last two presidential elections.

The Democrats have their work cut out for them considering we are four primary elections into the midterms and President Biden has a lukewarm approval rating, not to mention an inflation albatross around his neck. The best way to address these party shortcomings is to own them. Remind voters that democracy is also on the ballot this November; with extremists running for office, should they win, a woman’s right to choose will be a gateway to a larger existential threat to our country.

The 2022 midterm elections are crucial for America, and Democrats must get their messaging right and their voter outreach perfect. Otherwise, it could be the difference between protecting a woman’s right to choose and an all-out assault on women’s rights.

The table has been set for the Democrats to make the case of why they must maintain control of Congress. Now it’s up to them to compel voters to show up on Election Day and vote blue.