Republicans’ midterms pitch: never mind the policy, here’s the culture war

Abortion bans, anti-LGBTQ laws, book bans - the party sees hot button issues as a tried and test path to victory. Democrats ignore it at their peril, experts say

Sue-thy-neighbour" laws that ban abortions after six weeks of pregnancy in Texas and now Idaho. A don't say gay" bill censoring discussion of sexual orientation in schools in Florida. A ban on Maus, a graphic novel about the Holocaust, by a school board in Tennessee.

America's national government might be under Democratic control but its red states are on the march with sweeping laws targeting abortion, LGBTQ+ people and the teaching of race in schools that threaten to turn back the clock to an era when a citizen's rights depended on where they lived.