Republicans need to “build something new” after failing to retake the Senate majority following the 2022 midterm elections, a GOP senator said.
Democrats picked up a key Senate seat in Nevada after Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) defeated Republican challenger Adam Laxalt after numerous news outlets called the race in Masto’s favor on Saturday. Days before that, GOP candidate Mehmet Oz conceded to Democrat John Fetterman, while outlets called the race for Arizona’s Senate seat in favor of incumbent Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.).
“The old party is dead. Time to bury it. Build something new,” Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) wrote on social media. A day before, Hawley said Republican Senate leaders are failing to back initiatives that are supported by their voters.
The old party is dead. Time to bury it. Build something new
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) November 13, 2022
“Washington Republicanism lost big Tuesday night. When your ‘agenda’ is cave to Big Pharma on insulin, cave to [Sen. Chuck] Schumer on gun control & Green New Deal (‘infrastructure’), and tease changes to Social Security and Medicare, you lose,” Hawley wrote over the weekend.
Hawley, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), and Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) reportedly circulated a letter calling for Republicans to postpone their Senate leadership vote. It is presumed that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is vying to reclaim his Senate leadership position, although he has not responded to the three Republicans’ letter.
“I don’t know why Senate GOP would hold a leadership vote for the next Congress before this election is finished. We have a runoff in [Georgia] … are they saying that doesn’t matter? Don’t disenfranchise,” Hawley wrote late last week in response to Rubio’s statement that the vote needs to be held on a later date.
Some, including former President Donald Trump, called for McConnell to be ousted as leader of the GOP in the Senate. Earlier this year, McConnell indicated that he would win his leadership reelection.
