LAVINGTON, Ver. -- Just two weeks after his surprise win in Veroche's Conservative Senate primary race, former federal Sen. John Bosworth is facing withering criticism from his former Conservative peers.
"I think it's incredibly self-serving, what John did," current federal Sen. Niles Gilcrest (C-Veroche) told reporters in a conference call Friday afternoon.
"The fact that our party is working hard to regain the majority in the Senate...we've been talking for months about how we are chasing that magic number of 49 so we can finally have the majority again...and Kit McHenry was, is a popular incumbent senator who was seeking re-election and had an easy path to re-election...and now he ran against her and beat her in the primary and put her safe seat into jeopardy all of a sudden...I think it's a great disservice to the Conservative Party and to the people of Veroche," said a frustrated Gilcrest.
Veroche Gov. Mac Griffin had similar feelings.
"It created unneeded drama and a problem where we didn't need a problem," said Griffin during a Friday afternoon press conference. "Kit McHenry is a great senator for the state of Veroche. She has served our state well and faithfully. And she would have won re-election, there's no doubt about that. And now, we have an ambitious and self-seeking politician who ran against her, beat her, but will probably lose in the general election and hand this safe CNS seat to the Nationalists. That's deeply disappointing," said Griffin.
In the aftermath of Bosworth's stunning upset, and McHenry's shocking fall, Conservatives from not just Veroche but from across the country have gone on the record, voicing their dismay at McHenry's ousting.
Notably not piling on Bosworth, however, is Conservative Senate Minority Leader Jon Ralston.
Ralston told reporters the day after McHenry's loss that the Conservative Senate Campaign Committee (CSCC) would "100-percent support" Bosworth in the fall election.
"Look, the Conservative voters of Veroche made their choice. Maybe they voted differently than I or all of us would have voted. But they voted. And they chose John Bosworth. Who represents the Veroche Conservative Party in the fall election is the sole decision of the Conservative voters of Veroche. They've made that decision, and I will respect it," said Ralston.
He added, "I am laser-focused on getting to 49. So that means every Conservative candidate that is on the ballot this year in every state will receive the backing of the CSCC and of the Conservative leadership," said Ralston, referring to 49, the number of Senate seats Conservatives must win to take back the majority.
Other Conservative senators, including close friends of McHenry's, are still fuming.
"Really beyond the pale," said Monomi Conservative Sen. Kerry Paul, a fellow woman senator who has grown close to McHenry since joining the Senate in 2017, speaking of Bosworth's challenge to McHenry.
"Kit is a popular senator. She's a woman senator, which are few and far between in the Conservative Party. And not only that, she's experienced, she's a leader, she's a bridge-builder and a consensus-finder. She is a respected elder in the Senate. She's someone senators from both parties and the executive branch turn to when they have a problem or an issue that needs to be resolved. And to target someone like her, who has done so much in the Senate and would definitely continue to do so much, it offends me. And it offends a lot of other people I've talked to," Paul told the National Press Federation (NPF).
It's not just female senators who are upset with Bosworth.
Armana Sen. Chuck Danbury has been equally vocal in his criticism of Bosworth.
"I don't know what's worse: the fact that he ran against a seasoned incumbent Conservative senator in the first place, or the fact that he probably won't be able to hold the seat in December," Danbury said on the GBC's Insight Tonight program.
"This was a perfectly safe Conservative seat. Kit McHenry was a guarantee. She was beloved by the people of Veroche, even by many Nationalists. And now John Bosworth, who just lost re-election and who is very unpopular in Veroche, he's probably going to lose this seat and hand the Nationalists another seat that should be in our column," said an exasperated Danbury.
When asked for comment on the backlash from fellow Conservative senators, the Bosworth campaign hardly blinked an eye.
"We don't waste time wondering what Kerry Paul or Chuck Danbury say or think," said Michael Deffries, a Bosworth campaign spokesman. "We are focused on winning in December and showing the people of Veroche that lower taxes, business-friendly policies and common sense legislating are superior to the race-baiting, gender-bending identity politics of Nationalists like Alex Tupperman."
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