Everyone has something to say about what went wrong on Tuesday. A common scapegoat for the unfortunate outcome in those elections was Donald Trump — although a close examination of the data doesn’t exactly give credence to that theory.
The media has certainly pushed the narrative that the abortion issue played the most significant role. And, to an extent, they are correct. Republicans have not done a good job with their post-Roe messaging on abortion. While polls show that Americans want restrictions on abortion, many red states have gone ahead with bans that even many Republicans can’t support.
Of course, this may have been an issue that Republicans could have countered with more resources. As we’ve previously reported, Republicans were outspent in most of the key elections that took place on Tuesday. Much of that was likely due to the Republican National Committee’s refusal to send money to the Virginia Republican Party before the election.
The outcome of the Virginia elections was often hyped as a bellwether for 2024 — and maybe it would be if the RNC had invested more in those races. It sure feels like when dollar signs are at issue, Democrats are more than willing to throw money at races to get the victories they desire so much, while Republicans seem to be much more selective.
Much criticism has been aimed at RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel for the poor results of Tuesday’s elections, and the 2018 and 2022 midterm elections. When the chair of the party proves she doesn’t have the leadership ability to win, she tends to not last long. Naturally, McDaniel is trying to rewrite history by absolving herself of responsibility for what happened in Virginia by claiming the state never requested any financial help.
"What's your analysis of the results in Virginia, though?” Townhall’s Larry O’Connor asked McDaniel after the GOP debate Wednesday evening.
"You know, the RNC is not a state committee. We're a federal committee, right? Your candidates can take unlimited state dollars and your governor can take unlimited state dollars,” she said, somewhat defensively. "And he actually said, 'We don't need you guys here.’"
Well, that’s interesting, isn’t it? The Virginia Republican Party asked for help and didn’t get it, but according to McDaniel, it never asked for help.
Worse yet, McDaniel actually made a legitimate point that Democrat ads in Virginia were all talking about abortion, defining their Republican opponents on abortion, while Republican ads focused almost exclusively on crime.
"So I will say this about Virginia,” she said. "Your governor did a great job, he got in, he's pushing the bank to vote. But if you were there watching the ads like I was, every Democrat ad is about abortion. Every Republican ad was about crime. And we're cross-talking. And if Republicans can't get up and say 'They are lying to you about my position on abortion,' on TV, then the lie becomes the truth. And that's what I will say, and I did not see that in Virginia."
Well, where was the RNC telling Virginia Republicans to go on offense about abortion, rather than on defense or even ignoring the issue altogether?
If the GOP is going to hype up an election as a bellwether, it better put resources in that election, and it shouldn’t need to be asked. Would it have made a difference? We’ll never know. But Republicans will continue to lose elections if they’re not fighting on an equal playing field.
