Source: Politics<\/p>\n
Republicans are openly distressed about the prospect of losing younger voters over their stances on abortion, firearms and democracy.<\/p>\n
By week’s end, their challenges on those three fronts could grow worse.<\/p>\n
Days after a mass shooting in Louisville, Ky., many declared and undeclared 2024 candidates will be brandishing their Second Amendment bona fides at the National Rifle Association\u2019s annual leadership forum in Indianapolis. From there, a number of the candidates will travel south on I-65, where they will make their cases to Republican National Committee grandees for a gathering in Nashville \u2014 the site not only of another mass shooting, but also the state GOP-led ejection of two Black Democratic lawmakers last week.<\/p>\n
\u201cTalking at the NRA meeting in Indianapolis then going to the RNC meeting in Nashville all fits together,\u201d said Paul Helmke, the former Republican mayor of Fort Wayne, Ind., and president and CEO of the Brady Center\/Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. \u201cYou\u2019re giving a single unified message: You don\u2019t brook dissent or disagreement on guns.\u201d<\/p>\n
The cattle calls in Indiana and Tennessee, on the books for months and aimed at reaffirming core principles for the party, come at a moment when there are growing questions from within about its direction. Inside the party\u2019s headquarters, there has been recognition that Republicans need to change their message on abortion with pollsters arguing for a more moderate tack. And among some committee members, there is a belief that the GOP\u2019s image could be bolstered if it lessened its strident opposition to gun safety measures, especially among a group of voters who are just engaging in national politics.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery life matters,\u201d said Oscar Brock, an RNC member from Tennessee. \u201cIncluding those three 9-year-old kids in Green Hills,\u201d the neighborhood in Nashville where they were shot and killed at school. Brock said he believes the party is suffering among swing voters on the issue of guns and abortion.<\/p>\n
But while a corner of the party has begun pushing for nuance, others are making the case for staying the course on long-held policies.<\/p>\n
Vivek Ramaswamy, a 37-year-old presidential candidate and wealthy biotech entrepreneur, warned that the party would not succeed \u201cby compromising on its core principles.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe should be at once unapologetic on principles, and also live up to the principle instead of just uttering the slogan,\u201d he said in an interview this week.<\/p>\n
Ramaswamy suggested the party neither increase abortion access nor tighten gun laws, but instead take steps to make it easier for women to obtain child care or \u201ctap into Social Security early\u201d to fund a family. On guns, Ramaswamy, a father of two young children, said the GOP should get serious about funding armed guards in every school \u2014 and \u201cnone of us should tolerate kids being killed.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not uncommon for there to be disagreement within Republican ranks over whether to shore up the party’s standing with the base or adjust and moderate to appeal to independent voters. But the latest round of debate has taken on greater importance after a series of poor election performances, including a Democratic win in the Wisconsin Supreme Court race. And it has been sparked by a series of events, including those recent mass shootings and a Trump-appointed federal judge\u2019s ruling to suspend the FDA\u2019s approval of a commonly used abortion pill.<\/p>\n
The fissures were on vivid display Tuesday in deep-red Tennessee. After previously resisting calls for red flag laws \u2014 including from former President Donald Trump in 2019<\/a> \u2014 Republican Gov. Bill Lee publicly urged the state Legislature to pass a version of it<\/a>, and announced he would sign an executive order strengthening background checks for firearm purchases.<\/p>\n Lee\u2019s news conference, which came as a surprise even to GOP legislative leaders, followed a shooting March 27 that killed three 9-year-olds and three adults at a Nashville Christian school. Lee said one of his wife\u2019s closest friends \u2014 with whom she was planning to have dinner that night \u2014 was murdered.<\/p>\n It was a remarkable illustration of a GOP official moving swiftly to try and sand down the party\u2019s image. Less clear is whether a GOP-controlled Legislature that has worked for years to roll back gun regulations will heed the governor\u2019s call to act.<\/p>\n Republicans in the Legislature were already facing the reality that their plan to expel two Democratic House members for protesting the state’s gun laws inside the Capitol had backfired. One of the expelled members, Rep. Justin Jones of Nashville, quickly returned to his seat on Monday after being reappointed by local officials. The other, Justin Pearson of Memphis, is expected to return later this week.<\/p>\n But that wasn\u2019t the only front on which the party was showing signs of retrenchment. On the topic of abortion, Republican anxieties have been building for months.<\/p>\n