EXCLUSIVE — The Republican backlash against Donald Trump is growing as officials lay the blame for the party’s disappointing midterm elections squarely on the shoulders of the former president.
In an interview Thursday, the GOP operative who runs the political arm of a caucus of roughly 90 House Republicans said Trump single-handedly wasted the party’s golden opportunity to make massive gains in Congress by endorsing bad candidates in key contests. Sarah Chamberlain, the president of the Republican Main Street Partnership Political Action Committee, said Trump’s role in party politics must be reevaluated, with or without the cooperation of the former president.
“It’s time to have a come-to-Jesus meeting with him,” Chamberlain told the Washington Examiner. “That was not a good Tuesday night. He and his colleagues, staff — they must recognize that. They need to reassess.”
“We need to have different candidates. They can’t be candidates that just love Donald Trump,” Chamberlain said. “If you really want to be the president again and be the leader of the party — Mitch McConnell was right, candidates matter.”
McConnell (R-KY), the Senate minority leader, has spoken candidly about the political challenges Republicans have faced in Tuesday’s election because of the spate of flawed candidates who won primaries largely on the strength of Trump’s endorsement. Chamberlain’s comments come as Trump plans to announce a 2024 White House bid and add to the chorus of top Republicans blaming the former president for the party’s stumbles in midterm elections that were projected to unfold as a massive red wave.
The Republican Main Street Partnership is a caucus of pragmatic conservatives. Many of the House Republicans in this group are fond of Trump and what he achieved as president. On core issues, they largely align with the Republican Trump loyalists who are members of the insurgent House Freedom Caucus. But the Republican Main Street Partnership places greater value on governing. And, politically, through its PAC, it has prioritized supporting electable Republicans.
It’s on this front, nominating Republicans capable of winning general elections, that the GOP fell short in the midterm elections.
Despite President Joe Biden’s unpopularity and voter anxiety about inflation, crime, and border security, Republicans are on track to win the bare minimum number of seats required to capture the House majority. In the Senate, Democrats were positioned to retain their majority and possibly gain a seat. Trump’s meddling in the GOP primaries, producing nominees rejected by general election voters, was the prime culprit, Chamberlain said in a memorandum she planned to circulate Friday.
“Despite overwhelmingly favorable polling and projections, Republicans fell short in delivering sizable majorities in both the House and Senate,” Chamberlain said in the memo. “Candidate quality appeared to be the largest detriment facing the GOP this election cycle.”
As examples, Chamberlain pointed to four House races where candidates backed by the Republican Main Street Partnership PAC fell short to nominees who proceeded to lose in the general election. In three of these contests, the Republican nominated advanced because of Trump’s endorsement. In two of the primaries, Trump intervened strictly to punish GOP incumbents who voted to impeach him in the aftermath of the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol.
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That was the case In Washington state’s 3rd Congressional District, where Republican Joe Kent ousted Rep. Jamie Herrera Beutler (R-WA) in the primary. Kent, who ran as a Trump loyalist committed to the former president’s “America first” agenda, lost on Tuesday. That also was the case in Michigan’s 3rd District, where Republican John Gibbs ousted Rep. Peter Meijer (R-MI) in the primary but lost on Tuesday.
“Donald Trump could be an active member of the party; a lot of Main Street members like Donald Trump,” Chamberlain told the Washington Examiner. “But we need a better strategy for picking candidates.”
