“while the die-hard republicans still voted for her.”
Which tells me that die-hard republicans are not as smart as they claim to be - in other words dumber than a box of rocks. Third party NOW!
A lot of those votes could have been cast early, or been absentee. And certainly there were a few percent who just show up, don’t know what is happening, and “just vote republican”.
And I think this race proves the folly of pushing a 3rd party. Here we had an established 3rd party, with a candidate supported by tons of money and national figures, AND a major party candidate who suspended her campaign, and we still couldn’t get the 3rd-party win.
3rd-party is a good way to get rid of those who are nominally on your side but who you don’t think are good enough; it’s unlikely to actually win you an election, until the NEXT election (except THAT election will be “payback” time where the other side might run 3rd-party and hurt you, so it can take several cycles).
Look, Newt was dead wrong in this election because DeDe was a traitor, as was proven by her actions. But in general, he was right that we won’t defeat the democrats if we adopt a 3rd-party strategy.