House GOP wooing women voters ahead of 2020

House Republicans are racing to combat accusations that the party is anti-woman as they face increased pressure on a series of Democratic-backed bills focusing on women’s issues.

The GOP, which is still bruised from brutal midterm elections that decimated its ranks of female lawmakers, has vowed to win back the suburban women voters that fled the party in a rebuke of President Donald Trump last year.

In response, GOP lawmakers have introduced a stack of bills to compete with Democratic legislation tackling issues that are important to females. They hope the alternative measures will counter the criticism that their party is unfriendly to women, a strategy that has been discussed at leadership meetings with the heads of committees in recent weeks.

Republicans, however, potentially made that challenge more difficult when they voted against a gender wage gap bill last week and announced opposition to legislation to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act — the first of several “pocket book” issues that Democrats are pushing for women and families this year, which they see as key to retaining their expansive majority in 2020.

Democrats have been seizing on those votes to paint the GOP as hostile toward women. The issue of pay equity will again be in the spotlight Tuesday on national Equal Pay Day, when House Democratic women hold a high-profile news conference with actress Michelle Williams. Members who championed this issue on the campaign trail are expected to tout their support for the Democrats’ Paycheck Fairness Act and show a contrast with the right.