Republican senators differed Wednesday on what lessons to take from Tuesday's election results that saw Democrats make gains in Kentucky and Virginia while making a strong showing in Mississippi.
Some said there were important warning signs for Republicans -- especially the declining support among suburban voters -- while others downplayed the results and said they don't portend anything ominous for 2020, when President Donald Trump and a third of the Senate faces voters.
Sen. Shelly Moore Capito, a Republican of West Virginia, said the results were a "wakeup call" for her party.
"I don't see this as a catastrophic election night," she said. "But you know wakeup calls sometimes come in a mid-term or a primary. This is probably a wakeup call for us to find our way back to that suburban voter."
Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, the second-ranking Republican leader, agreed.
"We've got our work cut out for us for sure in some of those areas," Thune said. "It's hard to read. In Kentucky, that was candidate specific. But some of the other results from (Tuesday) weren't particularly good for us. I guess it lets us know that we have to double-down and come up with an argument to help win us back there."
Thune was referring to Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin, a brash conservative whose tenure has been controversial. Despite Trump rallying for him the night before the election, Bevin remains slightly behind in the ongoing count against his Democratic challenger Attorney General Andy Beshear, who claimed victory on Tuesday night.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/06/politics/republican-reaction-election-day-results/index.html
Some said there were important warning signs for Republicans -- especially the declining support among suburban voters -- while others downplayed the results and said they don't portend anything ominous for 2020, when President Donald Trump and a third of the Senate faces voters.
Sen. Shelly Moore Capito, a Republican of West Virginia, said the results were a "wakeup call" for her party.
"I don't see this as a catastrophic election night," she said. "But you know wakeup calls sometimes come in a mid-term or a primary. This is probably a wakeup call for us to find our way back to that suburban voter."
Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, the second-ranking Republican leader, agreed.
"We've got our work cut out for us for sure in some of those areas," Thune said. "It's hard to read. In Kentucky, that was candidate specific. But some of the other results from (Tuesday) weren't particularly good for us. I guess it lets us know that we have to double-down and come up with an argument to help win us back there."
Thune was referring to Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin, a brash conservative whose tenure has been controversial. Despite Trump rallying for him the night before the election, Bevin remains slightly behind in the ongoing count against his Democratic challenger Attorney General Andy Beshear, who claimed victory on Tuesday night.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/06/politics/republican-reaction-election-day-results/index.html
