Ahead of the 2022 midterm elections, Republican officials could hardly contain their excitement. Much of the party, mindful of historical models and polls showing public discontent, was certain there’d be a “red wave.” The question wasn’t whether it’d materialize, it was how dramatic the party’s victory would be.
The expectations made the results even more bitter. The GOP saw its U.S. Senate minority shrink, lost ground in gubernatorial offices, and failed to flip a single state legislative chamber. In the U.S. House, where party leaders boasted about possible gains of 60 or 70 seats, Republicans ended up with a net gain of nine seats for the cycle, leaving them with a small, tough-to-manage majority.
It was arguably the best midterm elections for a first-term Democratic president since FDR.
For a while, GOP leaders had no idea how best to respond to the results. A week after Election Day, for example, Donald Trump published an item to his social media platform declaring, “WE WON! … Big Victory, don’t be stupid. Stand on the rooftops and shout it out loud!” Two days later, the former president wrote a follow-up item, saying it was Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s “fault” that the party “blew the Midterms.”
Trump seemed oblivious to the contradiction.
For its part, the Republican National Committee last fall launched a post-election audit — better known in political circles as an “autopsy” — designed to examine why the party fell so far short. As The Washington Post reported, the RNC’s analysis will ignore the elephant in the room.
A draft Republican Party autopsy report on the 2022 midterm elections examining why the GOP failed to win the U.S. Senate and posted smaller-than-expected gains in the House does not mention Donald Trump or his role as the de facto leader of the party, according to people familiar with its contents.
It was, of course, the former president who helped recruit candidates, secure Republican…
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