Fox News contributor Marc Thiessen unleashed a scathing rebuke of the Republican Party Wednesday after the midterms failed to deliver the "red wave" the party was hoping for.
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"Americans are begging for a reasonable alternative to what's happening in this country, and we're not giving it to them," Thiessen said on "America's Newsroom." "And if we don't give it to them, then shame on us."
Democrats beat back Republicans in close races across the country Tuesday night, leaving both the House of Representatives and the Senate up for grabs.
"75% of voters last night said that they not only didn't like the direction of the country, they were angry about the direction of the country, and yet they voted for the status quo," Thiessen said. "Why is that? It's because the Republican Party did not give them a viable alternative to vote for. They were begging for a viable alternative. And we didn't [give it]."
As a result, we squandered a historic opportunity."
Registered voters ranked abortion a close second to the economy in a poll about top midterm issues, leaving analysts to reexamine the role the issue played in key races.
"Looking at the environment, looking at the inflation, looking at the economy, looking at crime, looking at immigration, I think that abortion played a bigger role than we think it did in a number of states across the country," Fox News chief political anchor Bret Baier said earlier on the show.
Thiessen argued a big factor that stifled a "red wave" was a "candidate quality issue" stemming from former President Donald Trump's endorsements in key battleground states.
"We nominated a bunch of people that the voters rejected in a lot of these Senate races," he said. "[Voters] looked at us, and they said, 'We sent you a message in 2020. Did you not hear us?,'" he continued. "I'm not a 'Never-Trumper,' but the election denial put people over the edge. At some point the voters said, 'We don't want this. We don't want the chaos.'"