Critics said Democrats’ focus on topics such as abortion rights and access to contraception proved to be a losing strategy in 2014. But leading Senate Democratic strategists aren’t backing away from the message just yet. They don’t necessarily defend the way the strategy was executed, but they do think a focus on female voters and the subjects they care about will resonate in next year’s races—especially as Republicans on Capitol Hill debate new abortion legislation.

“When you look at what the Republican House and Senate have done and seem to be doing right now legislatively, they work against the interests of many women,” Tom Lopach, the new executive director of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, told National Journal. “Repeatedly, they have opposed equal-pay legislation, they have tried to block access to women’s health care through ballot initiatives or in legislatures or in the U.S. House, time and again. They’ve supported personhood bills, they opposed working-family issues like raising the minimum wage.

“So when you have a party who aggressively legislates against economic and health interests of women, those issues are fair game to discuss with voters,” he added.