Mitch McConnell has hit out at Donald Trump and claimed that “candidate quality” led to the GOP’s poor performance in November’s midterm elections.
The Senate minority leader blamed the former president’s endorsements in 2022 primaries for defeats in important swing states last month.
Mr McConnell made the acerbic comments during his weekly press conference after being asked if he would play a more active role in identifying candidates in 2024.
“We ended up having a candidate quality test,” said Mr McConnell of the failed “red wave” in 2022.
“Look at Arizona. Look at New Hampshire. And the challenging situation in Georgia as well,” he said of states where high-profile Trump endorsees ended in defeat for the GOP and cost them control of the US Senate.
“Our ability to control the primary outcome was quite limited in ‘22 because the support of the former president proved to be very decisive in these primaries,” he added.
“So my view was do the best you can with the cards you’re dealt. Now hopefully in the next cycle we’ll have quality candidates everywhere and a better outcome.”
Mr McConnell compared the situation to 2010 and 2012 when Republicans picked a slate of candidates who lost winnable races.
“I do think we have an opportunity to re-learn, one more time: We have to have quality candidates to win in competitive Senate races,” he said.
And he added: “Looking back at ‘22, some of you may recall, I never said there was a red wave.”
