WASHINGTON — Mitch McConnell said former President Donald Trump’s overwhelming influence in Republican Senate primaries led to hobbled candidates in 2022 who lost winnable general election races, leaving Democrats in control of the upper chamber for at least another two years.
“Our ability to control the primary outcome was quite limited in ‘22 because of the support of the former president proved to be very decisive in these primaries,” McConnell told reporters in the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday. “My view was, do the best you can with the cards you’re dealt.”
The Senate GOP leader’s dour comments on the midterm election were essentially an “I told you so” moment as he pointed to his warnings about “candidate quality” in August.
