Republicans are kicking their defensive messaging on abortion into high gear, aiming to blunt Democrats’ attempts to paint them as extreme in the run-up to the election.

In debates, GOP congressional candidates are taking a more aggressive approach when talking about the issue, accusing Democrats of misrepresenting their position. Republican campaigns are successfully pitching fact-checks to local media that pick apart the claims of Democratic campaigns, and candidates are going on air with ads to directly articulate their stances on abortion.

In an unusually graphic example of that aggressiveness on Monday, Rep. Nick LaLota (R-N.Y.) took advantage of a Zoom debate format to push back on his Democratic challenger, John Avalon — much to the dismay of the moderators. As Avalon referenced LaLota’s stated opposition to second and third trimester abortion, LaLota held up a printed piece of paper that said: “I OPPOSE A NATIONAL ABORTION BAN.”

The tactics mark a shift from the last election cycle in 2022, when many Republicans — caught off-guard by the Supreme Court overturning the federal right to abortion that year — largely aimed to pivot their message to other issues like the economy and immigration that ranked as higher concerns in polls.

The GOP underperformed expectations, and the abortion issue was widely credited with breaking an anticipated “red wave.”

Democrats are again heavily campaigning on abortion access this year, with candidates in battleground seats across the country going on offense against the GOP on the issue.

But this year, Republican strategists advised candidates to articulate their position on abortion early — and to use those articulated positions to combat Democratic messaging.

CBS News Colorado, for instance, fact-checked an ad from Rep. Yadira Caraveo’s (D-Colo.) campaign that aimed to link her Republican challenger, Gabe Evans, to hard-line conservative Republicans such as Rep. Lauren Boebert (Colo.).

“He only cares about that Boebert stuff,” a man identified as an unaffiliated voter says in the ad, like “banning abortion.”

Democrats........

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