McConnell Blames Trump’s Endorsements for Senate Losses, Says ‘You Have to Have Quality Candidates to Win’

Sen. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said on Tuesday that former President Donald Trump’s primary endorsements “proved to be very decisive” and ultimately costly for Republicans’ failed effort to retake the Senate.

McConnell cited remarks he made in the summer expressing concern about the “candidate quality” of some nominees Trump endorsed.

“I think there’s probably a greater likelihood the House flips than the Senate,” McConnell told NBC News in August. “Senate races are just different. They’re statewide. Candidate quality has a lot to do with the outcome.”

The remark was considered a veiled shot at Trump, whose preferred candidates lost key Senate races in elections the GOP hoped to win. Democrats not only held the Senate, but they gained a seat. Among Trump’s high-profile misses were Don Bolduc in New Hampshire, Blake Masters in Arizona, Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania, and Herschel Walker in Georgia.

“Looking back at ’22, some of you may recall, I never said there was a red wave,” McConnell told reporters at a press conference at the Capitol on Tuesday. “I said we had a bunch of close races and looking at each race separately, I wasn’t making that up. We had a bunch of close races. We ended up having a candidate quality time [sic]. Anybody remember who mentioned that back in August? Look at Arizona, look at New Hampshire, and a challenging situation in Georgia as well.”

McConnell reiterated the need to run “quality candidates.”

“We had an opportunity to re-learn – one more time – you have to have quality candidates to win competitive Senate races,” McConnell continued before rattling off Republican Senate nominees who flamed out in previous election cycles. “We went through this in 2010, 2012 – Christine O’Donnell, Sharon Angle, Todd Akin, Richard Mourdock – and unfortunately revisited that situation in 2022.”

McConnell then blamed Trump’s endorsements.

“Our ability to control the primary outcome was quite limited in ’22 because of the support of the former president,” he added. “Proved to be very decisive in these primaries.”

Watch above via C-SPAN.