Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., delivered a sharp rebuke of his own party Monday, saying Republicans lost last week’s midterms because they turned their backs on working Americans.
“When you abandon pro-lifers, when you abandon the needy, when you abandon the poor, when you abandon working people, the American people might have something to say about that,” Hawley told CNN’s Manu Raju and other reporters on Capitol Hill.
The Missouri Republican also took aim at the party’s legislative priorities in comments reported by Punchbowl News. He criticized Congress for cutting Medicaid while funding data centers, cutting rural hospital funding while funding Planned Parenthood, and letting health care costs for working families soar without addressing affordability on everything from fertilizer to gas. He said the public doesn’t like that very much.
Hawley also declined to commit to the current leadership team.
“I’m not going to pledge my vote to leadership,” he said.
His remarks came as a group of Senate Republicans pushed to delay Tuesday’s leadership elections. Sens. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Rick Scott of Florida, Mike Lee of Utah, Ted Budd of North Carolina and John Kennedy of Louisiana signed a letter seeking a postponement, while Sens. Dave McCormick of Pennsylvania and Jim Banks of Indiana publicly supported the effort. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, who is running unopposed, has indicated the vote should go forward.
Hawley also called for what he described as a historic response to the election: a one-hour gathering for fasting and prayer at the U.S. Capitol next month.
His criticism of Medicaid cuts drew attention because Hawley voted for those cuts as part of President Trump’s sweeping tax bill last year. The legislation passed the Senate on a 50-50 tie broken by Vice President JD Vance. In a May 2025 New York Times op-ed, Hawley had warned that cutting health coverage for working people was morally wrong and politically suicidal, and cautioned about the effect on Missouri families and rural hospitals.
Democrats swept both the House and Senate in last week’s elections, setting off calls within the GOP for a reckoning over the party’s direction before the new Congress convenes in January.
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