Republicans licking their wounds after falling short of a ‘Red Wave’

It’s the day after election night, and thousands of votes have yet to be counted. But, players and analysts in both camps are trying to figure out why the ‘Red Wave’ didn’t happen and what to do next.

In the U.S. Senate race in Washington, incumbent Patty Murray (D) was projected to be the winner against Tiffany Smiley (R) very early in the count.

Suits: The GOP did not address the ‘democracy is on the ballot’ issue

“If you can’t beat Patty Murray, there’s something really wrong with the state GOP or the National GOP,” KTTH host Bryan Suits said. “The ‘democracy is on the ballot’ thing was a bit ginned up and had to be addressed, but it wasn’t.”

Appearing on The Gee and Ursula Show on KIRO Newsradio, Suits talked about why the ‘Red Wave’ didn’t quite happen.

“They didn’t understand the power of ‘democracy is at stake,’ ” Bryan said. “We’re not going to make abortion illegal in Washington State. Ever! But they didn’t bring that up because the deal was when you polled people, it was inflation. You know, it was gas, economy, and crime.”

Suits went on to make a local football analogy. “If last night was not a ‘give it to Marshawn moment’ for the GOP, I don’t know what it is.”

Suits said that if a registered Democrat is going to vote in King County, “they’re going to vote on ‘democracy’ even though they know fentanyl is killing people on Eastlake Avenue, crime is up, and your $2,000 mountain bike disappeared off Capitol Hill.

“They’re still going down to Lumen Field and standing in line to vote for Patty Murray.”

Suits commented that, “Mitch McConnell is very quietly saying, ‘we got some bad candidates out there.’ You know, don’t get me wrong. If you know you need a world-leading heart specialist, I’m going to go to Dr. Mehmet Oz. But as a candidate, not so much.”

The host of The Bryan Suits Show said that Republicans should have brought up the ‘don’t mess with my kids’ factor. “No more year and a half out of school,” Bryan explained. “The GOP could have basically gone to Ron DeSantis and said, ‘What do you think?’ ”

Trump has become a ‘distraction’ and ‘deprogramming’ should begin

Gee wanted to know if the GOP attachment to former President Donald Trump will be the Republican strategy going forward, “Or was a lesson learned last night?”

“Trump’s become a distraction now. It’s time for the cult to rest,” Bryan said. “Normal people only engage every two or four years. Enough of this.”

He said the results of the midterm elections were the beginning of the ‘deprogramming.’

“I really, really do think that people finally understand that Trump’s just a barking narcissist.”

Gee wanted to know about Trump’s threat to DeSantis when he said he had better not run because he had “very unflattering information” about him.

“Wait, what? So you’re threatening the most successful governor in the country, the guy who got out of  COVID without locking down schools? I’d say to anyone who is still MAGA, my bar is, ‘Did Ron DeSantis pay a porn star so that he could cheat on his third wife?’ Okay, no, sorry. You don’t have any unflattering information about the guy.”

Ursula asked the people, who are still strong supporters of Trump, why Bryan was coming to this conclusion. What evidence did he gain from last night’s election that led him to this epiphany?

“I made a call and it is called ‘winning,'” said Suits. “I love Ronald Reagan because he won. Okay, it’s a little weird that I named my daughter Reagan, but she was born at UCLA Ronald Reagan Medical Center. Okay, and I wouldn’t have named her Harborview. But she is named Reagan not because Ronald Reagan was a cult just because it’s a pretty name, right? But he won. And when it was time for him to move on, he moved on.

Bill Clinton could have been president longer than FDR. But there was never a cult around Bill Clinton. And for Donald Trump, I think it’s undeniable. Donald Trump was sort of the white man’s revenge on Obama.

I found that his foreign policy was accidentally phenomenal. We got results. I loved it. But I don’t think he had a thing to say about it. But I do think last night might have been a wake-up call for a lot of people. It might have been the curtain being pulled back. And then on Nov. 15, if Trump announces he’s running, that’s going to be the big dividing line. That’s going to be the big Wizard of Oz moment.”

In the 3rd Congressional District, Kent ‘knows how to win’ in Centralia

Gee wanted to know if the connection Joe Kent (R) has with Donald Trump is one of the reasons it hurt his campaign in the 3rd Congressional District. Kent currently trails Democratic newcomer Marie Gluesenkamp Pérez.

“It helped Kent definitely. Or else he wouldn’t have come out of that primary the way he did, and, you know, full disclosure, I voted for the guy because he’s so darn good-looking.”

Bryan went on to say that Kent needs Thurston County. “You know, in Thurston County, there’s a gigantic blue dot right over there with the capitol in the middle of it, but the rest of Thurston County, it’s in the country.

“He ran on ‘we’ve got to look into that election’ and ‘we got to make America great again.’ Kent’s one of those guys that I don’t know how much he really believes, but he definitely knows that’s the secret sauce to winning in Centralia.”

Gee and Ursula wanted to know about Herschel Walker (R), whose Senate race against Raphael Warnock (D) in Georgia appears to be headed for a runoff.

“Let’s just say I would be honored to shake Senator Walker’s hand,” Bryan said. “I’m not going to have a philosophical discussion with him, but I find him to be a delightful Republican addition to the U.S. Senate.”

King County Prosecutor is ‘the most important office on the ballot’

Finally, Bryan also had a thought when it came to the King County Prosecutor’s race. “I think the most important office on the ballot last night was King County Prosecutor.”

He continued, “How about electing prosecutors that actually prosecute? That’s a very germane issue in King County and anywhere that touches King County.”

Ursula wanted to know Bryan’s thoughts about Lisa Mannion having a sizable lead over Jim Farrell.

“Jim Farrell is a Democrat. He got no support from the Democratic Party.

“And yeah, he is a prosecutor that wants to go back to that office and say, ‘Hey, this backlog of cases where people are having the statute of limitations, kicked them out of jail or getting their satellite or GPS bracelet off or whatever.’ This is insane.

“But you know, I thought it was a stinging indictment that Mannion was pooh-poohing Ferrell’s trial experience. What people fail to understand is that King County metastasizes to every county that touches it. I used to go through Spanaway until people started getting killed at 3 a.m.”

Listen to Gee Scott and Ursula Reutin weekday mornings from 9 a.m. – 12 p.m. on KIRO Newsradio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.