McConnell: I Never Said There Was Going To Be A Red Wave For 2022 Midterms; Blames Trump

At a press conference on Tuesday at the Capitol, McConnell stated, "Looking back at '22, some of you may recall, I never said there was a red wave." "I didn't make it up when I stated we had a lot of close races; looking at each race independently. There were many close races. We ultimately had some quality time with the prospect. Does anyone recall who brought up that in August? Consider Arizona, New Hampshire, as well as a difficult circumstance in Georgia.

McConnell emphasized the significance of fielding "excellent candidates."

McConnell said, "We had an opportunity to re-learn - one more time - that you have to have quality candidates to win challenging Senate contests," before listing off Republican Senate nominees from previous election cycles who failed to make it. Christine O'Donnell, Sharon Angle, Todd Akin, and Richard Mourdock all went through this in 2010, 2012, and we regrettably went through it again in 2022.

Then McConnell cited Trump's endorsements as the cause.

Because of the backing from the previous president, he continued, "Our capacity to affect the primary outcome was fairly restricted in '22. In these primaries, "proved to be quite decisive."