What Republicans learned from 2012&rsquo;s &ldquo;War on Women&rdquo; rhetoric

Nina Easton

So&hellip; How did the &ldquo;War on Women&rdquo; platform work out for the Democrats this election cycle?<div class="paywall-selector"></div><div class="paywall">
Not too well. Let&rsquo;s start with the WOW campaign&rsquo;s poster-girl, Texas gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis. She lost by nearly 20 points, the worst drubbing of a Texas Democrat seeking the statehouse since George W. Bush&rsquo;s landslide in 1998. Davis even lost Democratic strongholds&mdash;and women.
Just last year the national media had embraced Davis as a celebrity&mdash;practically the second coming of feminism&mdash;after her filibuster of a bill restricting abortions in Texas. Democrats were hoping she could deliver the Lone Star state&mdash;facing the same diverse demographics now killing the GOP in California&mdash;into their column.
True, Davis had an uphill climb as a Democrat in a red state, but let&rsquo;s not forget that a female political legend climbed it before&mdash;former Texas Governor Ann Richards. Instead, this week media darling Wendy Davis turned out to be a political dud&mdash;a weak candidate with a muddled message.
Now, let&rsquo;s turn to the WOW poster-boy, Colorado Senator Mark Udall, who made the GOP&rsquo;s supposed war on women&rsquo;s reproductive rights the centerpiece of his campaign. Udall&rsquo;s laser focus on birth control and abortion earned him the campaign-trail nickname &ldquo;Mark Uterus.&rdquo; Republican congressman Cory Gardner dodged the WOW caricature&mdash;even running ads supporting over-the-counter birth control.
Instead, Udall was the one who became the object of ridicule; the incumbent Democrat lost by 2 points in a state that Obama handily carried two short years ago.
Remember Sandra Fluke, the former law student who shot to fame in 2012 when Republicans wouldn&rsquo;t let her testify on behalf of free Obamacare birth control? Fluke lost her California state senate race, to a Democrat, by a whopping 61 to 39.
There are some lessons here. It is true that when it comes to women, there have been a few truly horrific voices emanating from the political right&mdash;talk show host Rush Limbaugh suggesting Fluke&rsquo;s position made her a &ldquo;slut,&rdquo; (he later apologized for &ldquo;insulting&rdquo; word choices); 2012 Senate candidate Todd Akin&rsquo;s assertion that women rarely get pregnant from &ldquo;legitimate rape&rdquo;; candidate Richard Mourdock&rsquo;s refusal to apologize for saying God &ldquo;intended&rdquo; the children of rape. All of those comments &mdash;and more&mdash;left Republican leaders, especially women, tearing their hair out.
This time around, party leaders played smart. Together with big donors like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Karl Rove&rsquo;s American Crossroads, they moved early and aggressively to search out viable general-election candidates, successfully keeping fringe actors out of the GOP mix. Lacking candidates from <a href="https://fortune.com/2014/10/09/gridlock-washington-dc-primaries/" target="_blank">&ldquo;the caveman caucus&rdquo;</a> to offer up outrageous comments, the WOW campaign couldn&rsquo;t gain traction. Instead, we heard GOP candidates telling voters they supported over-the-counter birth control &ldquo;covered by insurance.&rdquo;
But this election was also a stark reminder that women voters don&rsquo;t care only about health issues. Reproductive rights don&rsquo;t rank high on the list of female-voter priorities&mdash;especially at a time when wages are stagnating and ISIS is beheading Americans.
And even when the issue being debated is reproduction, women disagree. Take late-term abortions: The Texas bill that rocketed Wendy Davis to fame as the supposed protector of women&rsquo;s rights included a ban on abortions after 20 weeks. Yet a nationwide <a href="http://www.nationaljournal.com/congressional-connection/coverage/americans-narrowly-support-20-week-abortion-ban-20130626">2013 National Journal poll</a> showed a majority of women supporting the ban&mdash;and in greater numbers than men.
The WOW campaign worked for Democrats in 2012&mdash;but also taught GOP leaders important lessons. The President&rsquo;s clash with the Catholic Church over the Obamacare birth control mandate (which extended to church-affiliated groups) turned out to be a brilliant political tactic. By injecting the words &ldquo;birth control&rdquo; into a heated primary election season, Obama and the Democrats succeeded in throwing Republicans on the defense. Suddenly the party was faced with social conservative Rick Santorum declaring birth control &ldquo;not okay,&rdquo; followed by the Akin-Mourdock debacles. The GOP brand suffered mightily, especially with women.
The Republican Party&rsquo;s demographic problems are far from over. This was a low-turnout election mostly populated by white, older voters. In 2016, the GOP still needs to make inroads with Hispanics, younger voters&mdash;and women. But this week&rsquo;s election results show it&rsquo;s not a lost cause.
<a href="https://fortune.com/tag/mpw-co-chairs/" target="_blank">&ldquo;From the MPW Co-chairs&rdquo;</a> is a series where the editors who oversee the Fortune Most Powerful Women brand share their insights about women leaders.</div>

This election was also a stark reminder that women voters don&rsquo;t care only about health issues.

What Republicans learned from 2012's "War on Women" rhetoric

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