Rising MAGA Rhetoric Targets Women’s Suffrage as Anti-19th Amendment Talk Reaches Mainstream

Current polling projections suggest that Republicans may face significant losses in the upcoming November 3 midterms, potentially ceding control of the House, the Senate, and several key governorships. In the wake of these projections, a once-fringe rhetorical movement seeking to repeal the 19th Amendment has begun to gain traction within mainstream conservative circles and prominent youth organizations.

The drive to reconsider women’s right to vote is largely fueled by a persistent gender gap in American elections. In the 2024 presidential race, 53% of women cast ballots for Kamala Harris, while 55% of men supported Donald Trump. This disparity has led some MAGA social media users and conservative activists to view female suffrage as a structural disadvantage for the Republican Party. What began in 2016 as a trolling hashtag, #RepealThe19th, has evolved into a serious proposal championed by influential figures within the Christian right and the broader GOP apparatus.

Central to this shift is the concept of “household voting,” an idea promoted by Douglas Wilson, a prominent Christian nationalist pastor whose church includes Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth among its members. Wilson has explicitly called for replacing individual suffrage with a system where only the “head of the household”—presumptively a man—is permitted to vote. The defense secretary has previously praised Wilson for his public outlines of a Christian theocracy that would effectively disenfranchise women. Other high-profile religious leaders, including Texas-based pastors Dale Partridge and Joel Webbon, have also used their online platforms to denounce the 19th Amendment, which was ratified in 1920.

The sentiment is also finding a foothold among the next generation of conservative leadership. Kai Schwemmer, the political director of College Republicans of America, has called for an end to women’s suffrage. This position has been echoed by media figures such as Daily Wire podcaster Michael Knowles, who recently hosted a panel dedicated to justifying arguments for the repeal. Similarly, white nationalist podcaster Nick Fuentes routinely advocates for the removal of voting rights for women to his substantial audience of young men.

Perhaps most significantly, Turning Point USA (TPUSA), one of the nation’s most well-funded conservative organizations, has begun providing a platform for these views. The organization’s “Pick Up The Mic” tour recently featured Joshua Haymes, a Christian nationalist pastor who argues that female participation in the democratic process undermines the traditional family structure. Andrew Wilson, a commentator who has gone viral for arguing against female suffrage, has also represented TPUSA in various podcast appearances. On “The Spillover,” the most popular women’s show hosted by TPUSA’s Alex Clarke, guests have argued that the 19th Amendment has been a “net negative” for society. At the recent TPUSA Women’s Leadership Summit, influencer Savanna Stone spoke in opposition to women’s suffrage, and multiple attendees reportedly expressed a willingness to relinquish their own right to vote.

Sarah Stankorb, a journalist and expert on women and religion, notes that the migration of these ideas from extreme patriarchal churches to the public square is no accident. Stankorb, author of “Damned If She Does: Why Women Quit Church and What It Means for the Future of Religion,” suggests that Christian nationalists are leveraging partisan polarization to make the denial of basic rights for half the population appear to be a debatable theological point. She warns that constant social media repetition is designed to dull the shock of these proposals, slowly moving the once unthinkable into the realm of normalized academic discussion.

Despite the rising rhetoric, the legal path to repealing the 19th Amendment remains functionally impossible in the current political climate. Overturning a constitutional amendment requires a joint resolution approved by two-thirds of both the House and Senate, or a constitutional convention, followed by ratification by three-fourths of the states (38 out of 50). Historically, this has only occurred once, when the 21st Amendment overturned the 18th Amendment’s prohibition on alcohol. Given that the Republican Party currently includes 11 female Senators and women make up over half of the American electorate, such a movement lacks the necessary legislative or popular support to succeed.

However, analysts suggest the primary goal of this rhetoric may not be immediate legislative change, but rather the delegitimization of female citizenship. By framing suffrage as a privilege rather than a right, activists aim to instill the idea that women should remain “grateful” for the rights they possess—a rhetorical strategy similar to comments made by Vice President JD Vance regarding the rights of people of color. Douglas Wilson made this power dynamic explicit earlier this year, telling commentator Konstantin Kisin that because women must “appeal to men for the rights,” those rights can be taken away at any time if men choose to end their “benevolence.”

This rhetorical push coincides with the actual erosion of other established rights. The 2022 Supreme Court decision to overturn the right to abortion demonstrated that long-held legal protections are not permanent. In the years since, voters in several Republican-led states have used ballot measures to restore reproductive rights, a development that has further angered the far right and amplified calls to restrict voting access.

Beyond the ballot box, observers point to an increasing assault on the legal protections intended to shield women from violence. This includes the blocking of the Epstein files and the public disparagement of victims, such as a Cornell University student who reported an alleged gang rape. In Ohio, Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy recently ran an ad featuring the estranged mother of his opponent, Dr. Amy Acton. The ad touched on a 1978 incident where Acton’s mother sided with a husband accused of raping Acton, highlighting a pattern of public messaging that critics say prioritizes patriarchal loyalty over the protection of women’s rights. By normalizing the idea that women are not full citizens, proponents of these views seek to use the threat of disenfranchisement as a cudgel to discourage women from pursuing full legal and social equality.