Campaigning on women’s health issues was the downfall of the Democrats this election season, according to a U.S. Chamber of Commerce official.
“There’s no doubt the war on women strategy was a huge disaster and didn’t work,” Scott Reed, the Chamber’s senior political strategist, said Thursday at the Wall Street Journal’s Capital Journal breakfast.
Reed used the example of Democratic Colorado incumbent Sen. Mark Udall losing to GOP Rep. Cory Gardner. Reed said this was because of how much Udall stressed his stance on social issues, while Gardner did not.
Democratic pollster Peter Hart agreed with Reed, saying Democrats like Udall hurt themselves in the midterms by running campaigns focused solely on social issues and not core economic ones.
Udall “had a marvelous record and he became a smaller candidate as he ran,” Hart said.
Gardner ousted Udall, 48.5 to 46 percent.
