GOP Losers Now Want Control Of Their Party

A wave of hardline conservatives are announcing bids to seize the reins of their state GOPs despite claims their candidacies were the primary reason for Republicans' underwhelming performances in battleground states around the country this cycle.

After a 14-point loss in her bid to become Michigan's next secretary of state, Kristina Karamo—the Donald Trump-endorsed Republican who has echoed his unfounded claims of systemic fraud in the 2020 election—announced she would now be launching an effort to lead the Michigan GOP, whose leaders blamed candidates like her and far-right gubernatorial Tudor Dixon of alienating voters and sabotaging the GOP's chances in a state President Joe Biden won by fewer than three points.

"The Republican establishment claiming the fight for election integrity, 'cost us the midterms,' is asinine and illogical," Karamo argued in a tweet apparently responding to an internal party memo blaming election denialism for the GOP's poor showing this cycle. "Obviously, those preserving systemic election corruption, would be significantly more efficient to keep those who want lawful elections out of office."

In New Hampshire, Republican Don Bolduc—who underperformed Trump's 2020 performance by several points en route to a near-double-digit loss in November—launched a leadership bid of his own this week, declaring interest in becoming vice chair of the New Hampshire Republican Party shortly after joining the long list of Trump-backed Republicans who lost this cycle.

And at the national level, Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel is facing challenges to her leadership from conspiracy theorist Mike Lindell alongside figures like Lee Zeldin—a New York Republican who lost his gubernatorial bid this year despite posting one of Republicans' best showings in the state in a generation. (Zeldin did not respond to a request for comment.)

But McDaniel is also facing a potential challenge from California attorney Harmeet Dhillon, a former leader in the California Republican Party who served as legal advisor on Trump's failed 2020 re-election campaign. Along with Zeldin, both figures notably come from states that have not elected a Republican to statewide office in more than a decade.

The three races are not in a vacuum, as Republicans nationwide have found themselves embroiled in internal conflicts over the party's direction after a disappointing midterm election in which the GOP won control of the U.S. House of Representatives, but failed to flip Senate and gubernatorial seats seen as vulnerable.

In Massachusetts, the state Republican Party currently finds itself edging toward a potential challenge to state chairman Jim Lyons (who may or may not be returning) by state committee member Amy Carnevale, who has openly weighed a bid to replace him following Democrat Maura Healy's nearly 30-point win in this year's governor's race over Republican Geoff Diehl.

And in Kansas, hardline Republicans are up in arms against outgoing Republican chairman Mike Kuckelman, who waited until after election day to discipline state Republican officials who supported a more moderate, independent candidate in the state's gubernatorial race, which was narrowly won by Democratic incumbent Laura Kelly, according to the Associated Press.

Whether the changes in leadership will be successful is an open question. After a "blue wave" election in 2018, the Arizona Republican Party elevated the far-right state senator Kelli Ward to lead the party to victory. Even with a favorable political environment for Republicans, Ward, a staunch supporter of Trump who echoed his rhetoric of a stolen election, led the party to across-the-board defeats in 2022, resulting in Democrats winning the Arizona governorship, Secretary of State, and both U.S. Senate seats for the first time since 1950.

Internal turmoil has crippled Republican chances elsewhere as well. In Oregon earlier this year, Justin Hwang—a several-times unsuccessful statehouse candidate—ascended to the chairmanship in the midst of ongoing turmoil within the party over the former leadership's support of the Jan. 6 riots at the United States Capitol, according to Willamette Weekly, and, later, so-called "wickedness" within the ranks of leadership, according to OPB.

Though Republicans fared better there than they typically do, the party still flipped just one congressional seat out of several they were expected to be competitive in, while losing the governor's race by several points.

Success, as it turns out, comes from appealing to the largest group possible: not just the party base. A recent study by the University of Chicago's Anthony Fowler concluded a large contingency of the population is swayed not by polarizing candidates but, instead, by the individual qualities of a particular candidate.

While Republicans generally underperformed this year, the candidates who experienced the most success tended to be party moderates, allowing them to take advantage of the true swing voters' discontent with Biden and the current Democratic Party without alienating on-the-fence voters.

"Our findings show that to the extent elected officials are polarized, it's likely not attributable to mass voting behavior," Fowler said in a statement announcing the findings. "Many Americans are not ideologically extreme, and they are especially important for political accountability and selection."

Correction 12/13/22, 9:06 a.m. ET: This story was updated to correct Anthony Fowler's name.