New York Republican’s ad on abortion access flips the script on Democrats

NEW YORK — A Republican is going where only Democrats have gone this cycle in New York, launching a TV ad focused on reproductive rights.

Rep. Marc Molinaro seeks to set his record straight in “Where I Stand,” which began airing Friday.

The 30-second spot is no frills. It features the GOP first-term lawmaker looking into the camera to voice what he’s expressed in written responses to Democrats’ recent attacks on him as anti-abortion.

“I believe health decisions should be between a woman and her doctor, not Washington,” Molinaro says.

The vulnerable upstate New York Republican is tackling head-on the very topic that Democrats — from his opponent, Josh Riley , and frontline Rep. Pat Ryan to the DCCC and House Majority Forward — have assailed the GOP over in their collective ad blitz.

Democrats argue that swing-district GOP members can’t be trusted to buck their party on a nationwide abortion ban that some of its leaders are championing. They point to Republican votes this term — including on access to abortions for troops, funding for crisis pregnancy centers and penalties for doctors performing abortions — in an attempt to prove their rivals are hypocrites.

Molinaro’s district is one of six New York battlegrounds expected to help determine which party controls the House next year.

“Marc Molinaro has spent his 30-year political career attacking women’s health and reproductive freedom, and now he’s trying to cover his tracks during election season,” said Riley, the Democrat locked in a rematch against the House member, responding to the new abortion-focused ad.

Molinaro has countered that he isn’t aligned with his party on in vitro fertilization, a point highlighted in his ad. The procedure was thrust into the spotlight after the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos are children, though the state legislature unwound some of the effects.

In New York, Molinaro and Rep. Mike Lawler have staked out IVF as an area ripe for bipartisan cooperation .

Both have described themselves as “personally pro-life,” made appearances at or donated to pregnancy crisis centers that dissuade pregnant women from abortions and hosted Rep. Kat Cammack (R-Fla.), co-chair of the House Pro-Life Caucus, recently in their districts.

But they and the other four Republicans targeted by Democrats in New York are adamant in their opposition to a nationwide ban on abortion.

The ad war in New York’s 19th Congressional District, which spans five media markets, is shaping up to be a relatively expensive one. About $14 million had been reserved for ads between the Republican-aligned Congressional Leadership Fund and the Democrats’ House Majority PAC alone, as of Friday, according to AdImpact. Molinaro’s campaign would not detail how much they plan to shell out on TV spots, but the Republican thus far has spent or reserved $221,000 for ads compared to Riley’s $680,000, according to the ad-tracking service.

Molinaro lost a 2022 special election to Ryan, who had attacked the Republican repeatedly on abortion rights one of many freedoms that should be protected. (Ryan now faces GOP challenger Alison Esposito in his bid for reelection and has put her support for the overturning of Roe v. Wade front and center.)

Molinaro’s new spot reveals reproductive rights are a top issue in his district, even if Republicans elsewhere in the state say it’s not in theirs.

Riley, a former Senate counsel, responded that there’s a clear distinction on who will fight for abortion access.

“I’m pro-choice, he’s anti-choice,” Riley said, “and it’s really that simple.”

A version of this story first appeared Friday in New York Playbook. Subscribe here .