Club for Growth head David McIntosh placed partial blame on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) for Republicans’ lackluster 2022 midterm results.
McIntosh accused McConnell of failing to adequately rally the Republican base by not capitalizing on President Joe Biden’s widespread unpopularity. The former Indiana congressman and Republican gubernatorial nominee also claimed McConnell’s messaging to voters failed to make the midterm elections a reckoning for the Biden administration’s failed policies.
“Mitch failed to make this a referendum on why Republicans were better than the Biden agenda and the Democrats,” McIntosh told Breitbart News. “He knocked down anybody’s efforts to have a platform to run on.”
McIntosh also said that part of the problem is McConnell’s misappropriation of GOP campaign funds, stating his “style of campaigning” is “spend money and go back and use that money to try to get yourself elected.”
Blake Masters getting dollars yanked from his race when he needed it most should cost Mitch McConnell his leadership position. Whether Blake wins or not. That’s honesty inexcusable. https://t.co/bn0EbYItfD
— Jesse Kelly (@JesseKellyDC) November 10, 2022
In September, a super PAC linked to McConnell clawed back $10 million worth of ads supporting America-first senatorial candidate Blake Masters (R-AZ). Masters, who’s still in a tight race with incumbent Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ), says he will vote to replace Mitch McConnell if elected.
McIntosh described new senators elected from 2016-2020 as getting “restless” after being in the minority for this long.
“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 for it,” he said.
Republicans are expected to regain control of the house and there’s still a window of opportunity to obtain a one-seat Senate majority.
