Josh Hawley: 'Washington Republicanism Lost Big'

While members of House Republican leadership, along with RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, are congratulating themselves before control of that body has even been confirmed, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) appears to be a little more clear-eyed, declaring "Washington Republicanism lost big Tuesday night."

What are Republicans actually going to do for working people? How about, to start: tougher tariffs on China, reshore American jobs, open up American energy full throttle, 100k new cops on the street. Unrig the system

— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) November 10, 2022

Hawley made such a point in a series of tweets from Thursday afternoon. He also criticized the "'agenda,'" which he himself put in quotation marks, to explain why it was that Republicans lost where they did. 

In case there's any question as to what Democrats think about the legislative and policy priorities that Hawley mentioned, the Biden administration has touted them at length, including when it comes to Thursday's White House press briefing. 

He did offer suggestions for improvement though, which involves doing something "for the working people," specifically on China, jobs, energy, and more police. 

Hawley expanded upon these sentiments in an interview with Philip Wegmann for RealClearPolitics (RCP):

The Missouri populist believes the Republican Party offered voters plenty in the way of generalized gripes about Democrats and President Biden – but no actionable alternative. Hawley blames that on what he calls “Washington Republicanism,” specifically Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. He also thinks it was a bad idea to talk about making changes to Social Security and Medicare.

“Republicans just said, ‘Well, the other side sucks, and Biden sucks.’ Well, no doubt! But it's pretty hard to convince folks, particularly independent-minded ones who don't tend to trust the process much, to vote for you, if you don't have something affirmative to say and offer,” Hawley said in a Friday interview.

“I lay that at the feet of the Washington establishment that set the tone for these races,” he added. “They failed to offer that kind of vision.”

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The blame was even more specifically placed on Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who may or may not end up becoming majority leader for the next Congress, even if Republicans do take control of the body:

Republicans certainly placed their hopes in voter resentment. They banked on the electorate rebuking a less-than-popular president overseeing historic inflation rates and high gasoline and food prices. And a policy prescription-free midterm was what Minority Leader Mitch McConnell wanted. After President Trump ran for reelection in 2020 without so much as releasing a party platform at the convention, McConnell was asked if the GOP would lay out their priorities should they retake the Senate majority.

“That is a very good question. And I’ll let you know when we take it back,” McConnell told NBC News in January.“This midterm election will be a report card on the performance of this entire Democratic government: the president, the House and the Senate.”

According to Hawley, that strategy “was a pretty serious mistake.” He says that many voters, particularly “Obama-Trump voters,” just stayed home, essentially reporting back to both parties in Washington through their non-participation that “‘I just don’t trust either of you guys.’”

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Mostly, Hawley blames McConnell. He told RCP that he will not vote for him as Republican Senate Leader, regardless of which party controls the Senate. “I’m not going to support the current leadership in the party,” he said, citing “key decisions” that were made over the last two years.

“I did not agree with the decision to take away the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens in the form of the big gun control bill,” he said referring to bipartisan gun reform legislation passed in June. “I thought that was a mistake.”

“I did not agree with spending billions and billions of dollars of taxpayer money on climate initiatives that was billed as infrastructure. I thought that was a mistake,” he continued, adding “We surrendered when we should’ve fought.”

“I did not agree with failing to have any kind of an agenda to run on in these midterms. I did not agree with the decision to bad-mouth our candidates in the middle of the campaign, I did not agree with the decision to leave Blake Masters for dead in Arizona,” he concluded.

That last charge was a reference to a McConnell-aligned super PAC pulling millions in spending meant to support the Republican challenger taking on Sen. Mark Kelly. Masters didn’t endear himself to leadership by hedging publicly on whether he would back McConnell as Senate Majority Leader. A sister PAC, however, spent over $13 million in Arizona, a McConnell spokesman previously told the Wall Street Journal.

Senate Republicans put forth an unofficial plan for voters to see, from National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) Chairman Rick Scott (R-FL), which received criticism, including from Hawley. 

"This does not address any of the felt concerns of voters, particularly voters who are struggling economically, who are struggling with rising prices, who have paid into those systems, by the way, with their wages, their entire working lives," he said. 

Of specific concerns that called for sunsetting federal programs, Hawley said, "I don't understand why in the world Republicans would say 'Oh, yeah, let's first when we get back to the majority, let's go fiddle with those programs that you've paid into, and that you are going to depend on for your livelihood in retirement.' I think it's nuts," he also said. 

It's not just remarks from Hawley, or the plan. Scott has also been criticized for vacationing on his yacht in Italy back in August when he could have been helping with the midterm elections.