Former GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley on Tuesday criticized recent comments by the Republican Senate candidate in Ohio in which he openly questioned why women “over 50” are concerned about reproductive rights.
Bernie Moreno, who is running against incumbent Sen. Sherrod Brown (D) in a tight race, during a Friday town hall called into question older women’s focus on abortion as an issue determining their vote.
“Sadly, by the way, there’s a lot of suburban women, a lot of suburban women that are like, ‘Listen, abortion is it. If I can’t have an abortion in this country whenever I want, I will vote for anybody else,’” he said.
“It’s a little crazy, by the way, but ― especially for women that are like past 50. I’m thinking to myself, ‘I don’t think that’s an issue for you,’” Moreno added.
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Haley claimed Moreno’s words could hurt him politically, while the GOP is counting on him to win the race as part of their plan to regain the majority in the upper chamber of Congress.
“Are you trying to lose the election?” Haley said. “Asking for a friend. #Tonedeaf #DonLemonVibes”
Haley’s post made an apparent reference to former CNN anchor Don Lemon calling her “past her prime” after she called for “mandatory competency testing for politicians over 75.”
“I’m just saying what the facts are. Google it. Everybody at home, when is a woman in her prime?” Lemon said in February 2023. “It says 20s, 30s and 40s. And I’m just saying Nikki Haley should be careful about saying that politicians are not in their prime, and they need to be in their prime when they serve. Because she wouldn’t be in her prime according to Google or whatever it is.”
Lemon was fired from the network a few months later.
Reagan McCarthy, a spokesperson for Moreno’s campaign, dismissed his statement as a joke, taking a swipe at “the left-wing media.”
“Bernie’s view is that women voters care just as much about the economy, rising prices, crime and our open southern border as male voters do, and it’s disgusting that Democrats and their friends in the left-wing media constantly treat all women as if they’re automatically single issue voters on abortion who don’t have other concerns that they vote on,” McCarthy said.
Abortion has repeatedly proven to be a winning issue for Democrats as Republicans have made efforts to further restrict access to the medical procedure following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade in June 2022.
Last year, Ohioans voted to codify abortion rights in the state constitution in a major win for reproductive rights advocates.
