The results of the 2022 midterms have proven disastrous for the Republican party, but equally as damaging to Trump’s hopes to snatch the 2024 party nomination. Many of his handpicked candidates were rejected at the polls while more mainstream conservative candidates won their races, or at least outperformed their MAGA counterparts.
Chris Sununu won the governor’s race in New Hampshire while Don Bolduc lost. Both Dr. Oz and Doug Mastriano lost in Pennsylvania. Blake Masters and Kari Lake both lost in Arizona. Brian Kemp won his governor’s race in Georgia handily, outpacing Trump-endorsed Herschel Walker, who is now facing an uphill runoff election. Adam Laxalt lost in Nevada while Joe Lombardo won the governor’s race. The list goes on.
In almost every major battleground state Trump candidates suffered heavy losses which led the Republicans to barely win the House and possibly lose a seat in the Senate. This is amid inflation being at a 40 year high, crime rates on the rise, while Joe Biden’s approval rating is lower than any Democrat president in the last 44 years.
Donald Trump has lost more elections than Romney, McCain, George W. Bush, George H. W. Bush, Ronald Reagan, and Richard Nixon. He barley emerged victorious in the 2016 election against one of the most disliked candidates in America. Since he entered office, Republicans lost 40 House seats, and their majority in 2018. In 2020, Trump lost the presidency to an opponent who hardly campaigned, while also failing to hold on to control of the Senate. This year, Trump’s handpicked candidates lost in the most critical battleground states in the country.
Oddly, the GOP continues to return to a failed candidate who has cost the party much more than they’ve gained. Members who criticize the former president are excommunicated from the party, and those who believe his misconduct on January 6th as impeachable, are disowned, insulted, and viewed as RINOs. Despite all the abuse, despite the electoral failures, why is it that the GOP and conservative voters continue to support a man who has destroyed the party?
After his defeat in 2008, no one viewed John McCain as the presumptive nominee in four years. When George H. W. Bush lost his re-election bid, no one proclaimed him the continual flagbearer of the party and the movement. After Nixon was impeached and resigned from office, no one thought to look to Nixon for guidance on who the party should nominate, nor did he ever try to influence the selection of candidates. Republicans have had a long and successful history of finding new leaders in the ashes of the past ones.
Republicans must stop shooting ourselves in the foot, especially when the party already has a deep bench of potential candidates. Governors like Ron DeSantis, Brian Kemp, Kristi Noem, Doug Ducey, Chris Sununu, and Glenn Youngkin. Senators like Tim Scott, Tom Cotton, Marco Rubio, and Rand Paul. Even former Trump administration officials like Nikki Haley, Mike Pence, and Mike Pompeo. There are countless well-qualified Republicans who would do an infinitely better job than Joe Biden and most Democrats.
It’s time to move on, it’s time to find new blood and new leadership, and it’s time to start picking candidates who can win elections and produce change. Simply put, it’s a time for choosing. Do we continue on a path of lost elections which will perpetuate the Democrats’ time in government, or do we take the path of renewed vigor and fresh faces with new ideas?
Hopefully we make the right call.
Jake Kroesen
Jake Kroesen lives in Independence, Missouri and is a Junior pursuing an undergraduate degree in Political Science at the University of Central Missouri. He is a member of the campuses College Republicans branch and is a contributor to the school's paper. He is greatly influenced by figures such as William F. Buckley jr, Irving Kristol, Frank Meyer, and Friedrich Von Hayek.
The views expressed in this article are the opinion of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Lone Conservative staff.
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