Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus has praised his party’s efforts to recruit female candidates but says the GOP has done a lousy job deflecting Democratic criticisms that it is anti-women.
“We have done a good job of making sure that we’re recruiting both female candidates and campaign managers. But one thing that we’ve done a pretty bad job of is bragging on it and getting women out there as spokespeople for my party,” Priebus told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” program on Tuesday.
Among Republican female candidates who are running strong campaigns this year are Senate candidates Rep. Shelley Moore Capito in West Virginia and Joni Ernst in Iowa, and House candidates Mia Love in Utah, Barbara Comstock in Virginia and Elise Stefanik in upstate New York.
Priebus vowed the GOP “absolutely” will improve outreach efforts to women voters because “we have to” to be a successful party. But he accused Democrats of shamelessly trumping up false accusations that Republicans ignore or underplay women’s issues.
“You’re looking at the Democrats overplaying their cards on this ‘war on women,’ and it’s backfiring on them all over the country,” he said.
The Wisconsin Republican added that the GOP has made great strides in taking advantage of early voting measures and using technology such as the Internet to target prospective voters, long a Democratic stronghold.
“The Republican Party has gotten its act together when it comes to early and absentee ballot voting,” he said. “I still think we’ve got a ways to go when it comes to the ground game and technology (compared with Democrats), but we’re doing a lot better, clearly.”
