The shocking results of the midterm elections which were predicted to sweep Republicans back into control of Congress but instead kept the country firmly on a course for more pain and suffering under Joe Biden and his Democrat wrecking crew are being picked apart by pundits and analysts as the postmortem has begun.
Despite Biden’s unpopularity, spiking energy costs, the worst inflation in four decades and the growing prospect of being sucked into WW III over Ukraine, the Democrats defied the odds by retaining control of the Senate with the House going down to the wire as the counting continues a week after polls closed.
With the president’s party having traditionally lost seats in off-year elections – especially when economic conditions are dismal – the Democrats defied the odds by overperforming and several political insiders provided Fox News with their insight on what happened.
Some of the reasons for the stunning difference between virtually all of the pre-election polls showing that a “red wave” was imminent but never materialized include the Democrat base’s fervor to elevate abortion over their own economic self-interest, the party’s successful efforts to keep former President Donald J. Trump front and center as the boogeyman, poor GOP “candidate quality” and indifference to violent crime in deep blue areas.
According to GOP pollster and president of North Star Opinion Research Whit Ayres, the Supreme Court’s overturning of abortion rights landmark ruling Roe v. Wade and Trump-endorsed candidates were the primary reasons for the lack of positive results for Republicans
“Republicans should have run away with this election,” Ayres told Fox News. “They did not because the Dobbs decision energized many women and younger voters, and because Trump endorsed numerous weak, first-time candidates who won primaries but could not win in a general election.”
“While relatively moderate Republican House candidates performed in line with expectations, MAGA aligned, election-denying extremists lost nearly all of their tossup races,” Ben LaBolt who was press secretary for Barack Obama’s re-election campaign told Fox News Digital. “Their beliefs were simply too radical for persuadable voters. President Biden and Democrats beat expectations by nominating mainstream candidates, passing a popular agenda to bring down costs for working Americans, and serving as a bulwark against extremism.”
Another Democrat, strategist Christy Setzer, president and founder of New Heights Communications told the outlet that “people are tired of the crazy.”
“At least in blue and purple states, voters sent a strong message that they don’t want to hear any more about transgender kids in sports or big lies about stolen elections; they want normalcy in their politics and they want to affirm respect for democracy,” Setzer said. “The culture wars worked in red states, some of which only got redder, but Republicans deeply underperformed with the same groups that united for Biden’s victory in 2020: young voters, women, people of color, and independents. Inflation is temporary, but authoritarianism can last forever.”
Pollster Chris Wilson, Ted Cruz’s former director of research and analytics for his unsuccessful presidential campaign put the blame squarely on candidate quality.
“It’s pretty clear candidate quality matters and cost the GOP several winnable races,” Wilson said in a statement to Fox News.
“It’s equally clear that allegiance to Donald Trump should no longer be the deciding factor in Republican primaries. Further, it’s important GOP candidates have a forward-looking vision that deals with important issues such as inflation, crime and values. The time for relitigating the 2020 election is past and needs to be buried on the ash heap of political history.”
DCCC spokesperson Tommy Garcia said Democrats were able to convince voters that they were the better option than Republicans who “pose a real threat to reproductive freedoms, democracy, and everyday people’s pocketbooks.”
“While Kevin McCarthy and Tom Emmer were busy measuring their drapes and boasting that they would flip 60 to 70 seats, Democrats worked and drew a clear contrast between results-oriented Democrats who are working to lower costs and keep communities safe, and extreme Republicans who pose a real threat to reproductive freedoms, democracy, and everyday people’s pocketbooks,” Garcia told the outlet.
National Republican Congressional Committee communications director Michael McAdams put a more positive spin on the disappointing results.
“House Republicans delivered a check on Biden’s disastrous agenda, picked up seats for the second straight cycle and flipped the House for just the third time in 68 years,” Adams told Fox News Digital.
Republicans have two years to make adjustments before voters again cast their ballots in 2024.
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