Former New York Gov. George Pataki (R) on Sunday said former President Trump is "tearing apart the Republican party" after the GOP failed to win control of the Senate and underperformed in races across the country.
"The problem is Donald Trump. The sooner he goes away, the quicker we will have the new Republican Party," Pataki told Eric Shawn on Fox News. "He's had his time and now he is tearing apart the Republican Party since the election."
Pataki, who served as governor of New York from 1995 to 2006, also told Fox News last week that Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.) lost his bid to unseat Gov. Katy Hochul (D) in New York because of his support for Trump.
Democrats won surprise victories across the board after analysts and politicians in both parties had predicted a red wave.
While control of the House is yet to be determined, Democrats on Saturday secured a majority in the Senate.
Trump on Sunday pinned the blame for the disappointing midterms on Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell in a social media post Sunday.
“He blew the Midterms, and everyone despises him and his otherwise lovely wife, Coco Chow!” Trump wrote.
Republicans have spent much of the past week pointing fingers, with some theorizing the party failed to campaign on a clear agenda and others blaming Trump-aligned candidates for focusing too much on 2020 election grievances.
Pataki on Sunday said "when we talk about Trump, we lose," saying the party "followed him off a cliff in 2018" and then "followed him to a loss to Joe Biden, of all people, in 2020."
The former New York governor said Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), who cruised to reelection on Tuesday, and other rising stars in the GOP should now take center stage.
"There are other good candidates, but the point being, if we look forward, we're going to win," Pataki said. "If we look back with Donald Trump, we're going to lose again."
