I live in Virginia, which is trending blue. Northern Virginia and the coast is rather liberal while the rest of the state is rather conservative, but the northern part of the state is so populous that in order for any Republican to win a statewide election he must run as a moderate. In 2013, the race between McAuliffe and Cuccinelli (for governor) should have been a landslide, but Cuccinelli did far better than expected despite still losing. Anyone who did not follow Cuccinelli would only know his stance on women's issues like abortion and birth control because of all of the attack ads.

A year later Senator Mark Warner looked unstoppable. He was the most popular governor in Virginia's history. He received admiration even from solid republicans. Up until a month before the election most people didn't even know who his opponent was; then the attack ads arrived. Warner's opponent was criticized constantly for being opposed to abortion, and on election day he lost by less than 1%.

This is just speculation, but is this narrative of republicans being anti-woman is counter-productive for Democrats?