Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is putting the blame for the GOP’s poor performance in the midterm elections on former President Donald Trump‘s endorsements.
McConnell says Trump’s endorsements limited the party’s ability to select better nominees in the party’s various primaries.
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“Our ability to control a primary outcome was quite limited in ’22 because the support of the former president proved to be very decisive in these primaries. So my view was: Do the best you can with the cards you’re dealt,” McConnell said at a press conference at the Capitol on Tuesday. “Hopefully, in the next cycle, we’ll have quality candidates everywhere and a better outcome.”
The Kentucky Republican has been a critic of the candidates Republican voters selected for 2022 elections, specifically in the Senate races, saying in August that “candidate quality” would likely hold back the party from taking control of the Senate.
Republicans failed to capture a majority in the Senate and lost one of their seats in the process, while in the House, the party won a majority but by a much closer margin than expected.
Many of Trump’s high-profile endorsements failed to win their races, including Herschel Walker, Adam Laxalt, Blake Masters, and Mehmet Oz.
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McConnell won reelection as Republican leader in the Senate, 37 to 10, but did face backlash from some of the Republican delegation after a lackluster performance in the midterm election.
