As Wednesday and Thursday came around, the Republican Party began to pick up the pieces of their defeat in the election on Tuesday.
“I don’t think anyone on our side understood or comprehended how good their turnout was going to be,” said Henry Barbour, a Republican committee man from Mississippi. “The Democrats do voter registration like a factory, like a business, and Republicans tend to leave it to the blue hairs.”
Members of the Republican Party noted not long after the election that change needs to happen if the party wants to be successful in the future.
“The conservative movement should have particular appeal to people in minority and immigrant communities who are trying to make it, and Republicans need to work harder than ever to communicate our beliefs to them,” said Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla).
Plenty of the disdain after the election was directed towards Karl Rove, who worked for the Bush administration. He oversaw campaign spending totaling $400 million for the race and Senate and House races.
“The billionaire donors I hear are livid,” a Republican operative told The Huffington Post. “There is some holy hell to pay. Karl Rove has a lot of explaining to do … I don’t know how you tell your donors that we spent $390 million and got nothing.”
While on Fox News live Tuesday night, Rove had to defend the spending by his group and was scheduled to hold a press briefing with donors on Thursday.
The Republican operative, speaking anonymously with the Huffington Post, said, “I think there was a big bomb that just went off in the party and people need to see where the bodies lie and let the dust settle. The party needs to find the Rove of 1996, rather than Karl Rove who created George Bush and got him reelected twice and spent $500 million in the next two cycles.”