Less than two weeks from the midterm elections, Republicans are still grappling with a sweeping loss – a nationwide bloodbath that hasn’t been experienced in decades, snaring candidates across the quality spectrum.
asserted
that → grapple → spectrum
It seems everyone from armchair quarterback podcasters to campaign consultants and longtime political insiders has a take on what, exactly, went down.
asserted
what → seem → take
But do we really need more ego-soothing explanations or narratives that conform to certain slices of the political party, or are wound-licking Republicans better served by a cold, hard dose of the truth?
Ben Domenech talks with Curt Anderson, who worked at the White House under Ronald Reagan and served as political director for the Republican National Committee before founding the political consulting firm OnMessage.
asserted
who → need → firm
In this weekend’s Punch interview, the two discuss if candidate quality really matters, how messaging makes or breaks campaigns, the surprising issue that no one saw coming, and what comes next in 2028.
asserted
what → discuss → 2028
I was in Nashville doing the Daily Wire evening coverage, and I went into it as one of the more pessimistic members of their cohort.
asserted
I → do → cohort
I quickly found out I was actually the most pessimistic, which surprised me because I thought Republicans could achieve a 50-50 Senate on a very good night.
uncertain
Republicans → find → night
I quickly found out everyone else had much more optimism in terms of their expectations and were much more surprised by the outcome.
asserted
everyone → find → outcome
Were you at all surprised by the outcome?
asserted
you → surprise → outcome
I thought going into it, it was going to either be bad or really bad, and it was really bad.
asserted
it → think → it
I would say in the Senate, 44 seats; I thought the floor was 46.
asserted
floor → say → seats
So I’m not surprised we lost in the House and the Senate.
asserted
we → ’m → House
It was a skosh worse than I thought, so not terribly surprised.
asserted
I → think → ?
When it comes to the conversation around this, very quickly and early in the evening, us dumb pundits start turning to the concept of candidate quality.
asserted
pundits → come → quality
So we start talking about Darline Graham, about Vivek Ramaswamy, and about Ken Paxton.
asserted
we → start → Paxton
But it seemed like the way that this whole sweep happened, the candidate quality was completely secondary.
asserted
quality → seem → ?
I’ll get to that.
asserted
I → get → that
Forget the pundits, but among people who work in politics and work in elections and campaigns, people who were shocked — and I know that there was a bunch of them — by the results should consider reevaluating what they’re doing.
asserted
they → forget → what
BD: What line of work would you recommend them going into instead, Curt?
asserted
them → recommend → work
Landscaping’s okay; it just depends on the climate you’re in.
asserted
you → ’ → climate
I’ve done landscaping.
asserted
I → do → landscaping
I can’t do it.
asserted
I → do → it
I’m too old for it, so that’s going to be a problem.
asserted
that → ’m → it
It’s honorable work.
asserted
It → ’ → ?
When you have an election like this, I would say it this way: the good, the bad, and the ugly candidates all lost.
asserted
good → have → it
And I would say John James was a really good candidate.
asserted
James → say → ?
They all lost.
asserted
They → lose → ?
And so it hides candidate quality.
asserted
it → hide → quality
It’s totally hidden in an election like this.
asserted
It → hide → this
All of a sudden, it doesn’t matter.
asserted
it → matter → ?
I do think we did, at least on balance in the big races in the Senate, we had not very good candidates.
asserted
we → think → candidates
We just didn’t.
asserted
We → do → ?
And I think Mike Rogers is a bad candidate.
asserted
Rogers → think → ?
That was something that I actually felt like I was arguing up a hill when I was saying that, but he’s especially a bad candidate given who he was facing.
asserted
he → feel → who
And then you get these people who like to get into this argument about, well, if Trump hadn’t anointed Paxton, would Cornyn have won?
asserted
Cornyn → get → Paxton
No, and I’ll say this as an ex-Cornyn staffer, one of the first conversations I had with a fellow ex-Cornyn staffer was that John would’ve lost.
asserted
John → say → staffer
In this climate, John would’ve lost.
asserted
John → lose → climate
It would’ve been less expensive and less distracting, but he still would’ve lost.
asserted
he → lose → ?
Yes, he would’ve lost by half as much or even better.
asserted
he → lose → much
But losing’s losing.
asserted
losing → lose → ?
Candidate quality is relevant in most elections, but when you have a big wave like this, it’s not.
asserted
it → have → this
…and 176 more, not listed.
The Aporia
