Representative Carlos Curbelo lost his seat to Democrat Debbie Mucarsel-Powell in the 2018 midterm election. Now, he’s commenting on his loss, blasting President Trump as doing more harm than good to the Republican Party.
Detailing the matter, Curbelo explained that “This party has to understand that if we’re going to have a small government, free enterprise party in America, that Trumpism isn’t the future for such a party. Everyone has to understand that the post-Trump chapter has to start being written now. No matter how the White House or anyone else wants to frame it, since Donald Trump has dominated Republican politics House Republicans have lost 47 seats.”
He called President Trump a “media hog,” saying that the President’s antics drown out important messaging that was being carried out by Republicans in the midterm elections. He further explained that “The national narrative the last few weeks was just very negative in terms of the immigration issue, the talk about birthright citizenship, the whole caravan circus. With everything being so nationalized, this idea that all politics is local is increasingly untrue. I was able to preserve my own brand and people were aware of it, just not enough people, especially in the face of a spending gap.”
However, when it comes to things his own team could’ve better worked on, Curbelo believes that “the number one factor in my race was spending.”
He added that “We got outspent significantly and a lot of the casual voters that showed up, especially late, voted straight ticket Democrat and I’d say that was really what made the difference. The barrage of ads and negative attacks do work, as much as everyone says they hate them.”
As he leaves his office, Curbelo asserts that he has no regrets and that he is most proud of his work regarding immigration.
“What happens in a lot of these wave elections,” he explained, “is that centrist members get taken out and they got to start all over again. This is nothing new. We go back to [James] Madison, the solution for two warring factions was more warring factions. So maybe the solution is a third party or a movement within the Congress to create the equivalent to a third party.”
