Last Updated on November 9, 2022
Club for Growth president David McIntosh said during a press conference Wednesday that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) failed to define the midterms as a referendum on President Biden’s agenda and anemic economy. Biden’s low approval rating coupled with months of polling data expressing dissatisfaction with the economy led many pundits and pollsters to predict massive GOP gains in the cycle. That has not quite materialized, though Republicans are expected to take control of the house and could possibly have control of the Senate by one seat.
One reporter asked McIntosh what the future will hold for McConnell if the GOP is not able to gain control of the Senate. He also mentioned that Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) has called for new leadership in the chamber, adding that he will not support McConnell for Senate majority leader.
McIntosh stated that he does not believe McConnell will face any serious challenges for the leadership role, Breitbart News reported. However, the Club for Growth president added that McConnell failed to present a clear vision for Senate Republicans despite Biden’s struggles and unpopularity.
McIntosh, a former congressman who was elected in 1994, said that new senators who were elected from 2016-2020 are getting “restless” after being in the minority for so many years. “They don’t like serving in the minority. And they don’t see the vision of getting back to the majority. And I think they’ll quietly distance themselves from their support from it,” McIntosh said.
“Mitch failed to make this a referendum on why Republicans were better than the Biden agenda and the Democrats, and he knocked down anybody’s efforts to have a platform to run on.”
He went on to say that McConnell’s “style of campaigning” is “spend money and go back and use that money to try to get yourself elected. It didn’t work in a lot of these close races.”
When Republicans win, it is generally because they have a clear vision, which McConnell failed to present, McIntosh said.
McConnell opted not to release a legislative agenda that would have given voters an idea of how a Senate Republican majority would operate.
In addition, the McConnell-influenced Senate Leadership Fund opted to pull close to $10 million in ad buys supporting Arizona U.S. Senate candidate Blake Masters, who is currently locked in a nail-biter race with incumbent Democrat Mark Kelly.
Though Masters has gained as votes continue to be tabulated a day after the election, his chances of victory are looking less likely than those of Adam Laxalt in Nevada. If Masters could win, a Laxalt victory would make the upcoming run-off in Georgia less critical, leading many to question McConnell’s resistance to the Masters campaign.
Masters has stated that he will not support McConnell for leader if elected.