House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) has reportedly told donors that he and House candidates in the 2022 cycle were not the reason for the GOP’s underperformance in the midterm elections last year.
McCarthy told donors at a retreat in Florida last week that the “top of the ticket mattered,” per Axios, blaming poor performance on weak gubernatorial and Senate candidates.
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Examples used in the presentation reportedly include Pennsylvania GOP gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano and showing how House candidates significantly outperformed him, but many still came up short of victory. Mastriano lost to now-Gov. Josh Shapiro (D-PA) by nearly 15 percentage points.
McCarthy also reportedly said bad gubernatorial candidates cost the GOP eight seats and noted that in the past two election cycles, House Republicans had added seats, while the Senate GOP has lost a net of four seats.
The 2024 election will test McCarthy’s narrow majority in the House, which got off to a rocky start with a contentious speaker vote last month. Since the speaker vote, tensions in the House GOP have cooled with “never-Kevin” congressman Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) recently saying he is pleased with McCarthy’s performance as speaker so far.
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The House majority will be at stake again in 2024 as 22 seats, including several Republican-held districts, are being rated as toss-ups. Currently, the GOP has a narrow five-seat majority in the lower chamber and a 49-51 minority in the Senate.
The 2024 election looks to be a prime opportunity for Republicans to take back the majority in the Senate, as Democrats are on defense in several vulnerable seats, including in West Virginia and Montana.
