US Senator Josh Hawley speaks to reporters on Monday. (CNN)
The midterm results, which allowed Democrats to retain their Senate majority, have some Republicans openly questioning who should lead the party ahead of the leadership election.
Hawley says McConnell can’t return the GOP to the majority
Sen. Josh Hawley told CNN’s Manu Raju that “clearly what we’re doing is not working” to become the majority party.
“It hasn’t worked for a long time,” he said. “And I think you look at independent voters, I mean, we didn’t give them anything, no alternative. This was the management’s decision. They didn’t want to have an agenda.”
Hawley added that he would vote for Sen. Rick Scott if he challenged Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell for leadership, and reiterated that he believes the leadership election should be delayed until after the Georgia runoff.
Cruz on leadership election: We need a leader who ‘doesn’t turn around right away’
Sen. Ted Cruz blasted Senate GOP leadership for “capitulating to the Democrats” over the past two years, harshly criticizing their messaging strategy this cycle.
“I think we should have a leader who really listens to the conference, who is willing to stand and fight, who doesn’t immediately turn around,” Cruz said.
“Our current leadership believes that the way to win elections is that you don’t stand for anything, you don’t have an agenda, you don’t have a plan. Instead, the only thing you say to yourself is, “Well, I’m not a Democrat.” So vote for me. you know what Election Day showed that we have to be more than just Democrats,” he said.
Cruz said it would be “crazy” to hold a leadership election tomorrow, ahead of an autopsy of the election results.
“I’ll tell you this, I think if we don’t delay the election, I think it’s very likely that we’ll see someone run against Mitch McConnell,” he added.
Trump’s former chief of staff says it’s time for the RNC chair to move on
Mick Mulvaney, President Donald Trump’s former acting chief of staff, told CNN’s Kate Bolduan that he is not a fan of Ronna McDaniel running for re-election as chair of the Republican National Committee.
“We got along well when she was in the White House and I have no complaints about her personally. But we have a history of losing with her in charge. Again, we lost in 2018. We lost in 2020. We didn’t . win like we should have done last week,” Mulvaney said Tuesday.
Mulvaney’s comments come amid reports that McDaniel told RNC members during a conference call Monday that he intends to seek re-election for another term, according to people familiar with the call.
Thune expects a “frank conversation” at the GOP luncheon
Senate Republican Whip John Thune said he expects a “frank conversation” when GOP conference members meet for lunch on Tuesday to assess why they had lackluster election results and to begin the process of deciding who will be his elected leadership team for the next Congress.
“I hope the leaders can make their voices heard like we always do. But I also hope that many of our members, who in most cases tend to be vocal at these luncheons, will do so today. We’ll see where it goes,” Thune said. to reporters at the Capitol. “I think that’s good. We need those honest conversations, certainly within the family as we think about charting the future, learning from the past, being informed by the past, but preparing for the future.”
Thune also said he hoped former President Donald Trump would have waited until after the Georgia Senate runoff to announce another presidential run, which he is expected to do tonight.