Following the failure of the GOP to win control of the Senate in the 2022 midterms, a few of the GOP’s more MAGA-leaning Senators are sounding off on the current state of the GOP and why things went so poorly on Tuesday night.
Senator Rick Scott, for instance, argued that the GOP messed up in not advancing a positive message about its vision for the country and instead just angrily ranting about Joe Biden and his many, obvious failures. In his words:
“I think we’ve got to reflect now. What didn’t happen? I think we didn’t have enough of a positive message.
“We said everything about how bad the Biden agenda was. It’s bad, the Democrats are radical, but we have to have a plan of what we stand for.”
Sen. Scott wasn’t alone in attacking the GOP following its midterm failure. Sen. Josh Hawley did as well, saying, in a tweet:
The old party is dead. Time to bury it. Build something new
Hawley also recently ripped into Sen. Mitch McConnell when asked if he’d support McConnell’s run for leadership of the GOP Senate caucus, saying:
“I don’t imagine I will, no. I’m not sure if any other senator will run or not. Nobody’s indicated they would. But my view is that we need new leadership in that position.”
Hawley, Marco Rubio, and others also called for a delay in elections for the GOP Senate leadership until after the Georgia runoff.
Rubio, for example, posted about the issue on Twitter, saying:
The Senate GOP leadership vote next week should be postponed
First we need to make sure that those who want to lead us are genuinely committed to fighting for the priorities & values of the working Americans (of every background) who gave us big wins in states like #Florida
Hawley, commenting on that and agreeing with Rubio’s sentiment, said:
Exactly right. I don’t know why Senate GOP would hold a leadership vote for the next Congress before this election is finished. We have a runoff in #GASenate – are they saying that doesn’t matter? Don’t disenfranchise @HerschelWalker
Those comments from Hawley and Rubio come alongside a letter from Sens. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), and Rick Scott (R-Fla.) that called for changes to be made to the GOP leadership following the midterm defeat. In it, they say, according to Politico:
“We are all disappointed that a Red Wave failed to materialize, and there are multiple reasons it did not. We need to have serious discussions within our conference as to why and what we can do to improve our chances in 2024.”
