Pat Toomey: ‘Woke left had a major setback’

Democrats framed the 2020 election as a referendum on President Trump, but Sen. Pat Toomey said Sunday that the Democratic fizzle in down-ballot races represented a repudiation of progressivism.

“I will tell you unambiguously this was a rejection of the radicalism that has increasingly been the driving force in the Democratic Party,” said the Pennsylvania Republican on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” “The woke left had a major setback.”

He cited the blue wave that wasn’t. Democrats have so far picked up a net of one Senate seat and lost a half-dozen House seats, as well as the New Hampshire House and Senate and the Montana governorship.

Even some Republicans were surprised at how well they did on Tuesday in state and congressional races.

“I mean, nobody thought we were going to pick up seats in the House, nobody thought we were going to hold the Senate, which I think is likely,” Mr. Toomey said. “We didn’t lose a single legislative body across the country.”

He credited the strong economy and foreign policy successes under the Trump administration in addition to the Democratic Party’s leftward lurch.

Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden has been projected the winner of the presidential contest by major news outlets, including the Associated Press and the television networks, while the Trump campaign is contesting the vote in key states.

 

“The woke Left had a major setback,” Republican @SenToomey tells @margbrennan of Dems losses in #Election2020

On Trump’s loss in #Pennsylvania: Trump’s “personality traits and character traits” “rubbed a lot of people the wrong way and that was probably problematic” pic.twitter.com/KAwTiNE2bo

— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) November 8, 2020

 

“There’s no question that personality traits and character traits of the president rubbed a lot of people the wrong way, and that was probably problematic for the president,” Mr. Toomey said. “It certainly was, but the outcomes—this administration has been remarkably successful with economic outcomes, with foreign policy.”

The result was that “the policies have been accepted, and the broad Republican victories down ballot suggest that,” he said.

Mr. Toomey announced last month that he will not seek reelection in 2022 nor run for Pennsylvania governor, saying he wanted to spend more time with his family.