Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel identified a significant reason why the GOP underperformed during the Nov. 8 midterms.
“Ticket-splitting was everywhere. We won eight races statewide in Georgia, but then [Sen. Raphael] Warnock wins the runoff. [Sen.] Ron Johnson wins in Wisconsin, but [Gov. Tony] Evers holds the governorship,” McDaniel told WABC 77 on Sunday, describing the phenomenon as “massive” in scope. “It’s not a one size fits all.”
McDaniel did not address how Republicans could combat ticket-splitting in their favor.
Split-ticket voting is when a voter casts ballots for candidates of different political parties for different offices. That’s opposed to straight-ticket voting, where a voter selects candidates from the same political party.
Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican, easily won reelection over Democrat Stacey Abrams, while GOP candidate Herschel Walker lost to Warnock by about 3 percentage points during last week’s runoff. That win cemented the Democrats’ majority in the Senate.
In Wisconsin, Johnson defeated Democrat Mandela Barnes while Gov. Evers, a Democrat, was reelected over Republican construction executive Tim Michels.
Also in the interview, McDaniel asserted that Republican infighting was a reason why some voters split tickets.
“We can’t hate each other so much that we forget what the Democrats are doing to this country,” McDaniel said. “We can’t be so mad at each other that we say, ‘I’m not going to vote for this Republican because they like this candidate, or they’re a RINO or establishment or MAGA.”
RINO is an acronym for “Republican in name only,” whereas MAGA refers to “Make America Great Again,” former President Donald Trump’s campaign slogan.
“The RNC, we don’t pick the candidates; the voters do,” she added. “We don’t do the messaging; that’s up to the campaigns.”
“We have got to come together, because if you look at many of these elections right now, the Republican voters were difference makers,” McDaniel said, adding, “Unity is going to be the word of the day if we’re going to win in 2023 and 2024.”
Meanwhile, McDaniel, who is seeking a reelection bid to head the RNC, indicated that the GOP cannot ignore abortion following the Supreme Court’s decision to reverse Roe v. Wade. Democrats relied heavily on abortion-related messaging during the election cycle.
“We’ve got to get conversant on that. It was probably a bigger factor than a lot of people thought. We can’t just do an ostrich method and pretend that it doesn’t exist when Democrats are spending $30 million on that message,” McDaniel said, without elaborating on how the Republicans can perform better. “In Pennsylvania and Michigan, that was a huge issue.”
Reelection
Before the midterms, polls and analysts indicated that Republicans would see large gains in the House and even the Senate. However, Republicans were not able to recapture the Senate and only gained a small majority in the House.
After the midterms, Republicans have squabbled about why the party underperformed amid President Joe Biden’s low approval rating average. Some said that the RNC needs new leadership and that McDaniel should be replaced.
McDaniel is being challenged for the RNC chair position by several people, including MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell and Republican lawyer Harmeet Dhillon, after Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.) decided not to run. Zeldin, a Republican candidate who lost in New York’s governor’s race, said that he believes McDaniel should step aside.
“Change is desperately needed, and there are many leaders, myself included, ready and willing to step up to ensure our party retools and transforms as critical elections fast approach, namely the 2024 Presidential and Congressional races,” Zeldin said in a statement last week. “However, the issue is Chairwoman McDaniel’s re-election appears to already be pre-baked, as if the disappointing results of every election during her tenure, including yesterday in Georgia, do not and should not even matter.”
However, she likely will not face significant opposition from other Republicans. McDaniel, the niece of Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), released a list of endorsements from 101 RNC members, which is enough to secure her reelection.
After Zeldin’s statement, McDaniel has not publicly commented. She also has not responded to an Epoch Times’ request for comment.
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Jack Phillips is a senior reporter for The Epoch Times based in New York. He covers breaking news.
