(CNSNews.com) - Understating the obvious, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said November 8 "was certainly a different night than I had predicted, and I think it's going to take a lot of looking at and analyzing."
He told Fox News on Wednesday he anticipates "a lot of sorting out" in the days ahead, after Republicans lost a number of races they thought they would win.
"I think president Biden probably is breathing a sigh of relief today because the red wave, at most it became a red trickle, and I have to confess, I thought it would be a much bigger Republican night than it was. So there's a lot -- there's an awful lot to learn about what didn't work."
Gingrich said he thought the issues that Republicans campaigned on -- inflation, the economy, crime and the border -- would have made for a big Republican victory. "And I have to say as much as I think it's despicable -- the Biden strategy of demonizing Republicans and attacking Republicans and defaming Republicans -- I think it did have an impact and will probably become part of the definition of the Democratic Party."
Gingrich said Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who won big and looked very presidential in his victory speech, was the biggest winner of the night.
"For everybody who doesn't want President trump, Ron DeSantis will now become far and away the leading alternative and a superstar and, frankly, you look at the size of his margins, you look at his reaction to the hurricane, somebody said to me this morning, he just gets things done. And I think that that's a big, big advantage for him."
If, as some anticipate, control of the Senate comes down to a runoff election in Georgia, Gingrich said Republican Gov. Brain Kemp has an important role to play:
"Governor Kemp has a huge ability, I think, to influence that runoff. And this will be the second time that Warnock has ended up in a run off. so I don't know what that says about how narrow the margins are in Georgia."