GOP having 'full-blown freak out' after being punished in elections this week: report

Republicans handily lost this week's big Wisconsin Supreme Court election, as Justice Janet Protasiewicz defeated Republican-backed rival Dan Kelly by 11 points – a surprisingly severe defeat in what is traditionally a swing state.

The issue at the center of Protasiewicz's successful campaign was protecting abortion rights -- and Politico's Playbook reports that this development has caused the GOP to have a "full-blown freak out" about implications for the 2024 presidential election.

Among other things, notes Politico, the firmly right-wing Wall Street Journal editorial board this week called the Wisconsin election a "five-alarm fire" and warned Republicans against embracing blanket, no-exceptions bans on abortion.

Despite this, the report notes that Florida Republicans are plowing ahead with a six-week ban on abortion that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has said that he would sign despite the fact that such restrictions have proven to be highly unpopular with swing-state voters.

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"There is always a gap between what motivates a party’s base during primary season and what wins elections in the general election," Politico concludes in its analysis of the current dynamics. "But on abortion, the gap is widening for the GOP."