It's not like we didn't mention this weeks ago regarding the 2022 midterms. The Republican Party has everything going for them to have a midterm cycle marked by total domination of the Democratic Party. It's almost as if the political gods are telling the GOP that they will do everything they can to create a climate from which a red tsunami will wipe out liberals in an event not seen since Noah and the Great Flood.
We have an economic recession caused by a dementia-ridden president, high inflation, an energy crisis, and an out-of-control southern border. We're also on the brink of allowing Iran to obtain nuclear weapons in an abysmal deal that makes Obama's initial agreement seem hardline. And yet, projections have begun to tilt toward the Democrats, despite Joe Biden's approvals remaining idle in the 30s. You can point fingers at the Republican leadership, which is doing next to nothing to help their 2022 crop.
Is it a case of sour grapes? The current crop is undoubtedly comprised of candidates that don't meet the approval of Mitch McConnell, who for sure would rather see others representing the Republican ticket. Too bad. The voters picked these people, and now he must work with them—he has no choice. We've discussed the snobby, condescending personalities that dominate liberal America. The Republican Party has lifelong DC establishment types who channel their brand of rigid credentialism. They don't like ordinary people running and winning elected offices. McConnell was also probably sour about Donald Trump's impressive primary endorsement streak.
The Republican Party's elite remains Trump-averse, but they must adapt to the base's changing dynamics. It's not returning to the old days of Reagan or neo-conservativism. It's now bluer collar and more populist, a stark contrast to the GOP's leadership, who still think they run the party. Still, Republicans probably felt they could put this cycle on cruise control. You can't do that—and in the process, they cannibalized the most precious resource of any election cycle: time.
As Labor Day approaches, so does the midterms' most critical and expensive period. A deluge of spending occurs in various media markets across the country as candidates make the final pitches to voters before Election Day. The Republican Party's Senate candidates are starved of cash, and we can thank Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) for fumbling that goal.
Scott was supposed to be the starting quarterback tasked with retaking the upper chamber. He's helming the National Republican Senatorial Committee for 2022. However, he appears to have turned the NRSC into the National Rick Scott Committee, siphoning campaign cash toward media buys that only promote him.
He's channeled a laissez-faire approach to this year's Senate races. As for the criticism, some of which has come from top Republicans like McConnell, Scott remains intransigent. The Florida senator remains committed to running the committee his way and feels any fight with the GOP leadership—McConnell—is a plus outside the Beltway. Scott is distracted by the White House. Some posit it is his next move at some point, given past presidential runs by former NRSC chairs. He was also vacationing in Italy on a luxury yacht, so you know his priorities are elsewhere.
The Washington Post had a decent piece about Scott and the NRSC in February, highlighting the contention areas (via WaPo):
Scott raised $6.6 million in 2021 for this high-dollar joint fundraising account, the Rick Scott Victory Fund, and diverted about 25 percent of it, or $1.6 million, to accounts that fund his own ambitions, according to federal filings. The rest went to the NRSC. He is not up for reelection until 2024 and has said he is not running for president.
“He is doing it in a state where there is an incumbent senator who is in-cycle, sucking up donor money when he really doesn’t need it,” said one strategist upset with Scott’s approach. Sen. Marco Rubio (R) is facing reelection in Florida.
When it comes to small-dollar donors, Scott has sometimes blurred lines, as well. In a separate online effort, called Team Rick Scott, he raised money last year with appeals like, “I am asking you to help me and President Trump take back the Senate.” The money collected, however, was split between his campaign and his personal leadership PAC, with none going directly to the NRSC. (His leadership PAC, Lets Get to Work, did give $100,000 to the NRSC in 2021.)
A change to how the NRSC fundraises with incumbents has become another friction point. Under Scott’s predecessor, senators who signed fundraising emails with the committee or allowed their images to be used in NRSC digital ads were given 50 percent of the revenue and the names of the donors.
Under Scott, the committee has offered candidates 10 percent of the haul and the donor names, with the rest going to the NRSC. Scott advisers say the change prevents the committee from losing money on appeals that raise little money, thus strengthening the NRSC overall. But the change comes as other Republican efforts are trying to funnel more money directly to candidates, because they are able to get better pricing on television advertising than the party committees.
Fox News host Tucker Carlson made a disturbing observation: maybe Mitch doesn't want to win. He doesn't like that Trumpism remains entrenched in the party base. He loathes the candidates who won their primary contests, so he's just looking to stop the bleeding by hoping the party retakes the House in November, ending the Biden agenda until the next presidential election. McConnell was once lauded as a master tactician and legislative strategist. Now, it seems like not only has he lost his touch, but he's engaging in a campaign of self-sabotage.
Hoping the 2022 Senate crop goes down in defeat won't buoy your argument that "candidate quality" is what sank them, Mitch. It won't provide a foundation to make the case that your side should control more of the nominating process next cycle. No, sir—everyone sees the GOP leader hanging his candidates out to dry, ceding defeat weeks before a critical election because he didn't like the results from some primary races.
In Pennsylvania, we have a Democrat recovering from a stroke who thinks life imprisonment should be abolished for murderers and is dead serious about emptying one-third of all PA's jails. In Georgia, Hershel Walker needs to work the tailgates at every University of Georgia home football game and talk about his storied collegiate career. Yet, these Republicans need cash and some strong words of support from the top brass in DC.
Get off your ass and get out there to help your party win these winnable races. No doubt, some are dumpster fires, but there's enough time (not a lot) to put out the fires and right the ship. For now, the Republican leadership is taking a "let the babies drown in the bathtub" approach to this cycle because the primary season didn't end as they would have liked.