Benson said while special elections aren’t “necessarily” predictive of other elections, he agreed with Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) on Saturday’s election results being something the Republican Party cannot “simply ignore.” He added this district went from a “comfortable Trump district” to a 14% victory for the Democratic Party.

“What you had here was the base for the Dems crawling over broken glass or skating over ice to get to the ballot box, independents maybe going a little wobbly on the Republicans, and a lot of red-tinted voters not bothering to show up,” Benson said on Fox News’s Special Report with Bret Baier, guest-hosted by John Roberts. “If that replicates itself at scale in November, it will be a bad night for the Republicans.”

GOP strategist Dennis Lennox told the Washington Examiner the lesson Republicans can take away from this special election is that “November will be decided by turnout.” Jason Roe, a Republican strategist, has also said “it’s time to hit the panic button,” and warned the party will be easily defeated “​​if something significant doesn’t happen.”

DEMOCRAT TAYLOR REHMET FLIPS RED TEXAS STATE SENATE SEAT IN STUNNING UPSET

Trump denied his involvement in this race, despite endorsing Republican candidate Leigh Wambsganss. Trump said “I’m not involved” with this race and dismissed the double-digit shift, saying “things like that happen.”

Ahead of the midterm elections, the Republican National Committee is starting the election cycle with a financial advantage, having raised more than $172.2 million last year, according to the latest Federal Election Commission filings.