NEGATIVITY & CHAOS: Mitch McConnell gives shockingly honest reason for GOP’s midterm fail
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) gave a surprisingly truthful answer when asked about criticisms from Republican Party members seeking to put the blame on their disappointing midterm performance on his shoulders.
“I never predicted a red wave,” McConnell told reporters.
“We never saw that in any of our polling, in the states we were counting on to win. There was no wave,” he added.
“We underperformed among independents and moderates because their impression of many of the people in our party and leadership roles is that they are involved in chaos, negativity and excessive attacks, and it frightened Independent and moderate Republican voters.”
McConnell: We underperformed among independents and moderates because their impression of many of the people in our party and leadership roles is that they are involved in chaos.. which is why I never predicted a red wave pic.twitter.com/zwiJus9PvF
— Acyn (@Acyn) November 15, 2022
The so-called “red wave” was supposed to occur when the GOP crushed the Democrats on November 8th.
They didn’t.
Instead, Democratic candidates overperformed in their races, shutting ultra-MAGA candidates out of key races for statewide offices like Secretary of State and Governor.
“Candidate quality – you recall I said in August – is important. In most of our states, we met that test, in a few of ’em, we did not,” McConnell said. “The perception many of them had that we were not dealing with issues in a responsible way. And we were spending too much time on negativity, chaos, and attacks. They were frightened, so they pulled back.”
“In two states for example – just crushed by Independent voters. Arizona, and New Hampshire. So we learned some lessons about this, and I think the lesson is pretty clear – Senate races are different.”
Senator McConnell didn’t seem phased by the criticism when a reporter asked what he had to say to fellow party members who blame the lawmaker’s decision not to have an agenda, alleging it “opened up Republican candidates to attacks that they didn’t really stand for anything.”
“Every one of our candidates knew what they were for; expressed it quite clearly,” the lifelong Republican answered,
That appears to be part of the problem.
McConnell has been on the receiving end of public criticism from ex-President Donald Trump and his allies after last Tuesday’s election.
It’s been reported that Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) will be challenging the veteran Senator for the position of party leader in the chamber.
Follow Ty Ross on Twitter @cooltxchick