Terri Lynn Land, the Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Michigan, released a new ad on Tuesday pushing back against Democrats’ accusation that she is complicit in the “war on women.”
“Congressman Gary Peters and his buddies want you to believe I’m waging a war on women. Really? Think about that for a moment,” Land says in the ad. She then pauses to sip from a cup of coffee, check her watch, and shake her head, before declaring “I’m Terri Lynn Land and I approve this message, because as a woman I might know a little more about women than Gary Peters.”
Land, who served as Michigan’s secretary of state from 2003-2011, is the latest in a long series of Republicans to take issue with Democrats’ “war on women” rhetoric. Land has a particularly urgent incentive to neutralize the attacks; her likely Democratic opponent, U.S. Rep. Gary Peters, has repeatedly criticized her on the topic.
Land has taken particular heat for refusing to take a position on Michigan’s controversial “rape insurance” law, and for claiming that women prioritize job flexibility over making a good salary.
“Well, we all like to be paid more and that’s great, but the reality is that women have a different lifestyle,” Land said in a 2010 speech. “They have kids, they have to take them to get dentist appointments, doctors’ appointments, all those kinds of things, and they’re more interested in flexibility in a job than pay.”
Those comments, which a Democratic SuperPAC revealed on Equal Pay Day, drew condemnation from both Peters and President Obama.
Polls suggest that Michigan’s Senate race is one of the closest in the nation; Peters leads Land by just over 1 percent, according to the Huffington Post’spolling average.
Screenshot: YouTube
