The GOP is 'cooked as a party' if it doesn't win in 2016, RNC chair says

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published 16 October 2015

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus doesn't think the Republican Party could weather a loss in the 2016 presidential election. In an interview with the Washington Examiner published Friday, Priebus says, "I do think that we're cooked as a party for quite a while as a party if we don't win in 2016."

While the GOP might have swept the midterm elections, Priebus noted that hasn't been the case with recent presidential elections. "I think that we have become, unfortunately, a midterm party that doesn't lose and a presidential party that has a really hard time winning," he told the Washington Examiner. "We're seeing more and more that if you don't hold the White House, it's very difficult to govern in this country — especially in Washington, D.C."

But while Priebus has a doomsday outlook for the consequences of a 2016 loss, he's optimistic about the possibility of a win. "I think...history is on our side."