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U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley speaks to reporters at the governor’s ham breakfast at the Missouri State Fair in Sedalia on Aug. 15 , 2024 (Annelise Hanshaw/Missouri Independent)
U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley on Monday blamed Republican election losses on his party abandoning working Americans, criticizing cuts to Medicaid that he voted to approve last year.
The Missouri Republican also called for what he described as a “historic response” to last week’s election: a one-hour gathering for fasting and prayer at the U.S. Capitol next month.
Hawley’s comments came as Democrats prepared to take control of both chambers of Congress and Senate Republicans confronted growing pressure to reconsider their leadership and legislative priorities.
“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 reporters at the Capitol, according to CNN.
Hawley pointed to a Congress that he said had neglected working families while pursuing other priorities.
“When you cut Medicaid but you fund data centers, when you cut rural hospital funding, then you fund Planned Parenthood, when you let the cost of healthcare for working people go through the roof but you can’t do anything for them on other issues of affordability from fertilizer to gas and everything else — yeah, you know what? The American public doesn’t like that very much,” he told reporters, according to Punchbowl News.
But Hawley was among the Republicans who voted in July 2025 for President Donald Trump’s sweeping tax and spending law, which the Congressional Budget Office estimated would reduce federal Medicaid spending by nearly $1 trillion over a decade.
The legislation passed the Senate on a 50-50 tie broken by Vice President JD Vance, with Hawley voting in favor.
Before the vote, Hawley had been one of the most vocal Republican critics of the proposed Medicaid reductions. In a May 2025 New York Times opinion column, he called cutting health coverage for working people “morally wrong and politically suicidal” and warned of the consequences for Missouri families and rural hospitals.
He ultimately supported the legislation after negotiators included a $50 billion rural health fund and delayed certain reductions in Medicaid funding mechanisms. Hawley argued those changes would help protect Missouri hospitals and pledged to fight the remaining cuts before they took effect.
Two weeks after his vote, Hawley introduced legislation to reverse some of the Medicaid reductions and expand the rural health fund to $100 billion. The measure was referred to the Senate Finance Committee, where it has remained without further action.
The election results have renewed debate among Republicans about the party’s direction following a year in which they controlled the White House and both chambers of Congress.
Democrats captured the U.S. House and Senate in last Tuesday’s election. In Missouri, Democrats gained 16 seats in the state House and two in the Senate, ending Republican supermajorities in both chambers.
Democrat Fred Wellman also defeated Republican U.S. Rep. Ann Wagner in the 2nd Congressional District, while Missouri voters rejected a congressional redistricting plan championed by Trump. And Missouri voters rejected a proposed constitutional amendment reinstating a ban on abortion that voters repealed in 2024.
Roughly 55% of Missourians rejected the proposed ban last week, preserving abortion rights while also approving a separate constitutional amendment sharply limiting lawmakers’ ability to overturn voter-approved measures.
Hawley’s assessment of the election came amid a growing dispute over Senate Republican leadership elections scheduled for Tuesday.
Several senators, including Wisconsin’s Ron Johnson and Pennsylvania’s Dave McCormick, have called for postponing the vote to allow Republicans more time to examine the reasons behind their losses.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota has indicated that the election should proceed, although Republicans are expected to discuss the results before voting. No challenger to Thune has publicly emerged.
Asked Monday whether Republicans needed a change in leadership, Hawley declined to endorse the current leadership team.
“I’m not going to pledge my vote to leadership,” he told reporters. “I’ll tell you that.”
Hawley offered another response to the election Monday evening, announcing plans to bring Christians together at the Capitol on Dec. 15.
“What happened last Tuesday was shocking and historic,” he wrote on X. “It calls for a historic response. Christians need to gather and seek the Lord.”
Missouri Independent is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Missouri Independent maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jason Hancock for questions: info@missouriindependent.com.
