Disappointed Cornyn calls for ‘period of reflection and recalibration’ for Republicans

Texas Sen. John Cornyn, stung by stunning setbacks suffered by Republican Senate candidates in Tuesday’s election, called for his party to come together rather than enter a period of bitter recriminations.

“It’s clear that with our losses in the presidential race, and a number of key Senate races, we have a period of reflection and recalibration ahead for the Republican Party,” the Texas Republican said in a statement released by the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which he directs. “While some will want to blame one wing of the party over the other, the reality is candidates from all corners of our GOP lost tonight. Clearly we have work to do in the weeks and months ahead.”

Sen. John Cornyn. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

As of early Wednesday morning, Democrats (with an assist by an Independent in Maine) had picked up four Republican seats while losing just one of their own. Not a single Democratic incumbent was defeated.

Cornyn, who hopes to win a party leadership position in the new Congress, is now explaining the reasons for the 2012 failure.

“We know that our conservative vision is the right one to secure a stronger America for future generations,” Cornyn said in his statement. “We know that we are the party of big, bold ideas with the courage to fight for what’s right even if it’s not politically expedient. It was that courage and that vision that led to important gains for our party in 2010. But all of us should continue to learn from both our victories and our defeats, and work together to build an even stronger Republican Party. ”

Cornyn conceded that the Democrats, from the Senate to President Obama, “had a good night” on Tuesday, but he warned, “they should not over-read their mandate as reflected by the almost evenly-divided popular vote. It’s important to observe that nothing that happened tonight changes the very serious challenges confronting our country – a $16 trillion debt, year-after-year of massive deficit spending, unsustainable entitlement programs, and a tax code that picks winners and losers while discouraging economic growth and job creation.”

“Solving these very serious problems will take real Presidential leadership. This is something we unfortunately did not see in the President’s first term, but that all of us hope for in his second.”

Richard Dunham