For those in the Republican Party, the midterms of 2022 will forever be looked at as a missed opportunity. While the GOP will likely take the majority back in the House by a thin margin while waiting on U.S. Senate outcomes from Arizona, Nevada and Georgia, Nov. 8 did not go like most thought it would.
While current Gov. Kathy Hochul, D-N.Y., was returned to her seat by voters, we still cannot discount the reelection of Gov. Ron DeSantis, Fla. His loss would have inflicted a serious blow to GOP morale and hopes nationally; it would have occurred against the backdrop of (historically speaking) the lowest approvals for a U.S. presidency and Congress.
Despite record inflation rates, crime skyrocketing, and incompetency flowing through policy in practically every swing state, independent young voters carried the Democratic Party through the rubble.
Now, the question lies at the feet of Republican influencers and leadership. Kevin McCarthy, Mitch McConnell, Rick Scott and Donald Trump all will be analyzing what happened over the next few days, but the real worry is about 2024 and beyond. After being favored to take back the Senate, the House, and multiple governorships, they were overwhelmingly disappointed.
The blame is on more than one side, too. From picking and choosing to fund one candidate, not the other, the lack of unity and messaging across the country is evident. The infighting between McCarthy being rejected by those in the America First movement has been highlighted through McCarthy's support for the impeachment Republicans and Ukraine First foreign policy.
McConnell and Scott's contest on who will end up as the tried and true leader of the Republican Senatorial Caucus remains one of the most intense battles in the last decade of Republican politics. The refusal to fund Trump and America First candidates country-wide, combined with the electability argument applied to any contest that a Republican lost a race they should have won, are reasons why the GOP is struggling to cope with what is to happen next.
In other words: Get it together, stupid. It is not over, at least not yet. The republic still hangs on by a thread as the country prepares for a divided establishment in Washington D.C., as well as two more years of a president whose acuity and policies merit equal scrutiny and challenge by the American people.
Over the next two years, the GOP will likely see a contested primary for the presidency and more candidates who will attempt to run for the Senate, House, and statewide offices on the America First agenda.
Iron sharpens iron, so the GOP needs to analyze who their base — not who the establishment election experts — wants. Only Republicans make Republicans better, so if the GOP wants to take back our country from the hands of the postmodernist, cultural Marxists of the Democratic Party and their progressive base, it is up to the voters.
Whether in primaries, debates, or simply fundamental policy changes by local officials around the country, the bottom of the Republican Party should decide where the voters should shift the movement.
Leave establishment politics and electability arguments, and let the voters guide our movement into 2024. It is our only chance to save our empire.
Kenneth David Cody III is a conservative writer and activist from Northeast Tennessee. He also serves as the Southern Regional Director for Republicans for National Renewal, and is chairman of the Cocke County GOP. Mr. Cody is also an Economics and English Teacher at Cosby High School. He has an M.A. in Teaching 6-12th Grade English, Tusculum University, and a B.A. in English Literature, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Read Kenny Cody's Reports — More Here.
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