On Tuesday, Republicans received yet another electoral beatdown, getting blown out in a key supreme court race in Wisconsin. Republican Dan Kelly was routed by far-left Democrat Janet Protasiewicz, putting voter integrity laws in the swing state in serious jeopardy as the 2024 election approaches.
Kelly wasn’t a newcomer, having been previously defeated in the same race by nearly the same margin in 2020. In other words, there was plenty of blame to go around. Kelly was a terrible candidate with a history of stop-the-steal activism, which is political crack cocaine for liberal opponents in contested races. GOP voters made a grave mistake in re-upping a guy who lost by double digits just two years prior.
Meanwhile, the RNC, which is ostensibly supposed to exist to help win big races, was nowhere to be found. Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel spent most of the last month doing cable news hits and insisting that the sky isn’t blue. She tried that tact again after Kelly’s defeat in a tone-deaf display of happy talk.
Excuse me for a moment while I go pull my hair out. Nothing drives me more up a wall than political figures who refuse to admit mistakes were made with a pledge to fix them. Instead of noting that the RNC dropped the ball, McDaniel wants you to believe that everything is just great. According to her, the GOP “secured” a super-majority in North Carolina. In reality, that came via a party switch, not an electoral victory, which is pathetic and not something you brag about.
As for Wisconsin, the GOP held onto a one-seat super-majority because of a special election in which the Republican candidate won by a single point. It was an underperformance that never should have happened, and redistricting is already threatening to make the victory short-lived. As to Louisiana, it’s a deep red state. She might as well be pumping up the fact that Republicans control Mississippi.
Keep in mind, no matter how you feel about the current position of those states mentioned, the RNC had little to nothing to do with any of those outcomes. Yet, McDaniel wants to take credit as if the GOP is ascendant. It’s not ascendant, and it’s long past time for party leaders to admit the truth. Republicans are struggling right now for a variety of reasons, and that doesn’t get fixed by ignoring the problems. It doesn’t get fixed with Fox News hits. It certainly doesn’t get fixed devoting the RNC’s time to retreats and Lululemon shopping sprees.
McDaniel continues to be completely useless as the RNC chair. Shame on those Republicans who pushed her into a fourth term (which she promised not to run for) when the GOP had a chance to change leadership and move forward in this crucial time. That includes both those from the establishment and Trump wings of the party, both of which rallied around McDaniel. GOP voters should demand she resign before she manages to screw up 2024 as well. The party can’t afford to keep on its current path.