The move may allow Kleefisch and Michels, who appear neck and neck in Tuesday’s primary, to woo Republican-leaning suburban voters — particularly women — who may have been turned off by their support for the near-total ban.

“I think it’s part of this adjustment within the party to the post-Roe world, where they are trying to make the point that if we are going to ban abortion, we need to come up with something that looks like a pro-child, pro-family policy,” said Charlie Sykes, a former conservative talk radio host in Wisconsin and editor-in-chief of The Bulwark. “It would appear to be part of this conversation about how they make themselves more palatable to suburban voters they have been alienating.

“But it is pretty striking,” he added. “On every other issue, there has been, between them, a race to the right for who can be the most purist and most absolutist conservative.”