“Candidate quality is essential, absolutely essential,” McConnell said Wednesday at a press conference on Capitol Hill. “I think we had the best candidates everywhere yesterday.”
Senate Republicans flipped seats in West Virginia after Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) retired and ousted longtime incumbent Sens. Jon Tester (D-MT) and Sherrod Brown (D-OH), giving Republicans control of 52 seats so far. Six races have yet to be called, with Republicans locked in competitive races in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Nevada, and Wisconsin.
McConnell praised Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT), chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee. Throughout the cycle, the Montana Republican refused to publicly project winning more than a 51-seat majority in the Senate.
“I want to give particular credit to Steve Daines. I had that job at the NRSC a few years back. I have never seen a better performance,” McConnell said. “He focused on getting quality candidates, making sure they actually got the nomination.”
McConnell hints at the successful strategy in their involvement in GOP primaries, praising Steve Daines NRSC head, “He focused on getting quality candidates, making sure they actually got the nomination, and as I said, to some criticism, candidate quality is absolutely essential.
— Samantha-Jo Roth (@SamanthaJoRoth) November 6, 2024
“As I said – to some criticism, candidate quality is absolutely essential,” McConnell added.
The GOP’s recruitment and candidate vetting efforts have previously emerged as a point of contention between McConnell and Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL), who was head of the NRSC in 2022.
Scott declined to put his finger on the scale in nonincumbent primaries, arguing that Republican voters should determine the party’s Senate nominees, not the NRSC. Early on, McConnell predicted the Senate would be more difficult for Republicans to flip because of the caliber of the GOP’s lineup of candidates in 2022.
Determined not to repeat the mistakes of the 2022 cycle, which ended with Senate Republicans’ minority shrinking in the upper chamber, Daines signaled he was willing to box out GOP candidates in the 2024 primaries who were perceived as weaker.
Under Daines’ leadership, the NRSC offered endorsements of Gov. Jim Justice (R-WV), former Gov. Larry Hogan (R-MD), Sen.-elect Jim Banks (R-IN), Republican Kari Lake in Arizona, Republican Sam Brown in Nevada, Sen.-elect Tim Sheehy in (R-MT), Republican Eric Hovde in Wisconsin, Republican Dave McCormick in Pennsylvania, and Republican Nella Domenici in New Mexico. The committee remained neutral in the Ohio Senate race but ultimately endorsed Sen.-elect Bernie Moreno (R-OH) after he won the primary.
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McConnell, who plans to step aside as Senate leader in November, touted to reporters Wednesday that he’d be able to hand his successor control of the Senate majority.
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“I had really hoped I’d be able to hand over to my successor the majority,” McConnell said with glee. “I’ve been the majority leader. I’ve been the minority leader. Majority is a lot better.”
“We haven’t got all the results in. We certainly already know we’re going to be in the majority. We’re hopeful that that might actually grow some,” he added.