After Republicans picked up the six Senate seats — and then some — needed to gain control of Congress, the GOP is tying likely 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton to the extreme loss on the Democrats’ side.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kent.) said Wednesday on CNN’s “New Day” that the Democratic losses in multiple states demonstrate the American people’s “repudiation of Hillary Clinton.”
“I think last night in Kentucky, we had a huge victory. And particularly in Kentucky, Iowa, Arkansas, this was not only a repudiation of the president, but I think really repudiation of Hillary Clinton,” Paul explained to CNN host Chris Cuomo. “Everybody thought oh, hey, I’m going to be a Clinton Democrat; turns out that’s not so popular in a lot of states either.”
He also said that Hillary’s strategy of separating herself from President Obama, like that of many other Democratic candidates in the midterm election, isn’t working.
“I just think that she has a record and she wants to either separate herself or say that she’s somehow different than Obama,” detailed the Kentucky Republican. “Really it turns out that on most policies they’re pretty much identical.”
“The Clintons have long been represented as leaders of the Democrat party,” Paul said later. “She’s said to be the front-runner for the nomination for their party. So really elections are about who the leadership is in a party and it’s about either accepting or rejecting those leaders. And, frankly, I think that yesterday was a repudiation of Hillary Clinton.”
Echoing Paul, an e-mail entitled “Hillary’s policies were on the ballot” from the Republican National Committee sent Wednesday morning also connected Hillary to the liberal losses Tuesday.
“Last night Democrat policies were on the ballot and that doesn’t bode well for Hillary and the Democrat 2016-ers,” wrote RNC spokesman Raffi Williams. “She might try to run from being Obama’s third term but she is very much tied to him on everything from foreign policy to Obamacare and his flailing economic policy.”
And, the numbers appear to support the GOP’s insistence that Tuesday was a bad night for the former secretary of State. Twenty-one of the Democrats that Clinton backed ahead of the midterm election — notably including Senate candidates Alison Lundergan Grimes, Bruce Braley and Mary Pryor — emerged as losers, according to America Rising.
Thus far, Republicans have picked up seven Senate seats.
“The American people have put their trust in the Republican Party, sending a GOP majority to the U.S. Senate,” said RNC Chairman Reince Priebus Tuesday of the victory. “I want to congratulate all our candidates tonight. Our party’s principles and message resonated with voters across the country. This was a rejection of President Obama’s failed polices and Harry Reid’s dysfunctional Senate.”
