Fox News host Laura Ingraham didn’t mince words after her network called the Georgia Senate runoff race for incumbent Democrat Raphael Warnock on Tuesday night.
“I’m pissed tonight, frankly,” the conservative primetime star fumed over the loss by Republican nominee Herschel Walker.
Weeks after Republicans vastly underperformed in this year’s midterm elections amid expectations of a “red tsunami,” the final insult was delivered when Democrats expanded their majority in the Senate. And as was the case with other congressional and statewide races last month, the loser in the Georgia runoff was endorsed early on by former President Donald Trump.
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Trump wasn’t alone in elevating Walker, who gave the Republican Party headache after headache over his abortion scandals, domestic abuse allegations, and multiple fabrications and embellishments, among other controversies. In fact, Ingraham’s Fox News colleague Sean Hannity was perhaps most instrumental in pushing Walker’s candidacy as he repeatedly offered up his primetime program to promote the ex-football legend.
Moments after her network called Warnock’s victory on Tuesday night, Ingraham lashed out at the Republican Party, conservative leaders, and perhaps even her own colleagues over what she felt was a preventable loss.
“I’d like to say this was surprising, but it’s not. The Senate Democrats, I would argue, did a much better job,” she sighed.
“We felt this coming,” Ingraham then said to Fox News contributor Mollie Hemingway. “To me, it never felt like the Senate Republicans wanted this guy in office. He was a Trump pick, and they didn’t like that… There wasn’t the intensity on the part of the Republicans as there was on the part of the Democrats. I felt it, and you felt it.”
Growing more irate, she continued: “But we don’t change anything! We have the same people in place in leadership. The same people in place, apparently at the RNC, perhaps that’s not changing. We are doing the same thing over and over again. I'm pissed tonight, frankly!”
While Hemingway agreed with her, saying it was “offensive for Republican voters and donors” because there was “no clear messaging,” Ingraham grumbled that the race was still close.
“What did we say? This was winnable,” the Fox host exclaimed before tossing shade at former Trump White House counselor and current Fox News pundit Kellyanne Conway.
“Kellyanne, I know you didn’t want any change. I like Ronna McDaniel,” Ingraham said about the struggling GOP chairwoman. “Isn’t this like a warning sign flashing, or are we just going to keep doing the same thing all over again every single election?!”
After Conway bemoaned the lack of Republican spending in the race, she went on to claim Walker was “one of the most improved candidates” in this election cycle before saying Republicans need to “compete for ballots”—including early votes. Ingraham, meanwhile, unsubtly referenced Trump’s election denialism—which was boosted by her own network.
“If we don’t bank ballots early, we’re going to keep losing,” Conway noted.
“Why didn’t we?” Ingraham shot back.
“We didn’t!” Conway declared.
“We didn’t do it in 2020, because everyone said don’t vote early because that’s corrupt,” Ingraham retorted.
“Not everyone,” the ex-Trump aide insisted.
“Well, a lot of people did at the very top of the Republican Party! You didn’t,” the Ingraham Angle host interjected, making it clear she was pointing fingers at the ex-president.
Ingraham, a longtime MAGA acolyte who even served as an informal Trump adviser, has seemingly backed away from the former president in recent months—drawing criticism from more obsequious pro-Trump media outlets.
