Fox News commentator describes midterms as ‘searing indictment’ for GOP

Fox News pundit and Washington Post columnist Marc Thiessen said the Republican Party has some major soul-searching to do following the 2022 midterm elections.

Thiessen in commentary as results were coming in early Wednesday morning said it was an indictment of the GOP to not have done better given the headwinds faced by Democrats in the election.

“There is a broader issue, and think about this: We have the worst inflation in four decades, the worst collapse in real wages in 40 years, the worst crime wave since the 1990s, the worst border crisis in U.S. history, we have Joe Biden, who is the least popular president since Harry Truman, since presidential polling happened, and there wasn’t a red wave,” Thiessen said.

“That is a searing indictment of the Republican Party. That is a searing indictment of the message that we have been sending to the voters. They looked at all of that, and looked at the Republican alternative, and said ‘no thanks.'”

The GOP, Thiessen continued, “needs to do a really deep introspection look in the mirror right now, because this is an absolute disaster for the Republican Party, and we need to turn back.”

The outcomes in the House and Senate remained unclear on Wednesday, as it was still possible the GOP could secure both chambers.

But Democrats also had clearly exceeded expectations.

Democrats were able to fight back Republican challengers in a number of key congressional races on Tuesday evening, including Senate seats in Pennsylvania and New Hampshire and a number of competitive House races in the Washington, D.C. exurbs.

Republicans did notch big wins in Florida and Ohio on Tuesday evening, but the “red wave” that analysts and political observers had predicted would sweep the nation midway through president Biden’s first term didn’t materialize.

Several of the GOP candidates for Senate and governor who had aligned themselves with former President Trump were either projected on Tuesday evening to lose or were trailing significantly as of early Wednesday morning.

“We need to look at who won today,” Thiessen said. “Ron DeSantis [in Florida]. DeWine [in Ohio]. These governors. Kemp [in Georgia], Abbott [in Texas]. … This is the path to the future. And electing these, you know, these radical candidates who ran far behind them has put the Republican Party in a terrible position, and voters have left, have indicted the Republican Party.”

Updated at 8:36 a.m.