‘A Wake-Up Call For The Republican Party’: Former Trump Advisor Reacts To Walker Loss

Harold Hutchison

A former advisor to former President Donald Trump called the results of the Georgia Senate runoff “a wake-up call” for Republicans during a Wednesday morning appearance on Fox Business.

“Look, it’s a disappointing night for Republicans, and this is what we’ve seen, especially on the Senate races, where we lost these battleground states like Arizona, like Pennsylvania, and a lot of it was we had talented candidates running but they were novice politicians,” Mercedes Schlapp, a former director of strategic communication in the Trump administration, told “Mornings With Maria” host Maria Bartiromo. “There was definitely a sense coming from the voters that they were looking for something a little more, what I would call vanilla, more incumbent-type of candidates that have run statewide before.”

Former NFL running back and Heisman Trophy winner Herschel Walker lost to Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock of Georgia Tuesday, completing a midterm election cycle where Republicans underperformed expectations of a nationwide “red wave.” Other notable losses included that of Dr. Mehmet Oz to Democratic Lt. Gov. John Fetterman of Pennsylvaniaand retired general Don Bolduc, who failed to unseat Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire.

WATCH:

“I also think that there’s a huge discrepancy that’s happening right now between the Democrats and Republicans,” said Schlapp, who also served in the George W. Bush administration. “The Democrats are outraising Republican candidates, the Democrats have a much more organized get-out-the-vote efforts, much more focused on the early voting, and really driving the mail-in ballot process much more effectively than the Republicans.”

“This is a wake-up call for the Republican Party, where in essence they failed to really have an effective, get-out-the-vote effort and really just play the Democrats at their game,” Schlapp continued. “And I — and I think that this is something that has to be fixed right now as we’re entering into the presidential election season.”

The Republican National Committee did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.