YOU CAN'T BUILD A MAJORITY PARTY ON HATRED OF WOMEN, BLACKS, LATINOS, MUSLIMS & JEWS:

Outgoing U.S. Rep. Kevin Yoder of Kansas wants national Republicans to conduct a thorough "autopsy" to determine why the party lost so many seats in the House of Representatives -- including his own.

Yoder signed onto a draft letter that House Republicans are circulating in response to the party's dramatic loss of 40 seats in this year's midterm elections. The copy, obtained by McClatchy, includes Yoder's signature alongside those of Carlos Cubelo, a moderate Republican who lost his re-election race in Florida, and GOP Reps. Elise Stefanik of New York and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois. It's unclear how many members signed it as of Friday, or whether the letter has been sent.

Stefanik served as the first female head of recruitment at the National Republican Congressional Committee -- the House's campaign arm -- but only one of the 100 women she recruited won. Next year there will be 89 Democratic women serving in the House compared to 13 Republican women. [...]

In the letter, Yoder, Stefanik and the other members say the results of this year's congressional elections "require an honest, transparent assessment" of what went wrong.

"Neither our Republican caucus, nor our party as a whole, can afford further erosion among key demographics," the letter states. "The November elections resulted in our party falling short in races that were otherwise winnable."

The letter points out that Republicans "lost a disproportionate number of seats in suburban districts and other key areas of our country" and "fell short across multiple demographics, including women, who represent a growing segment of America's voting population."

Downplaying or ignoring the causes for those losses "will lead us to repeat them," the letter warns.

Cantil-Sakauye -- a registered Republican since age 18 -- was nominated chief justice in 2010 by Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Early in her career, she worked as a deputy legal affairs secretary for Republican Gov. George Deukmejian, who appointed her as a Sacramento municipal court judge.

Another Republican governor, Pete Wilson, elevated her to Sacramento County court before she became an appellate court judge.

Cantil-Sakauye said the Kavanugh hearings left her "disheartened" and "hollow." Kavanaugh's confirmation was delayed and nearly derailed when Dr. Christine Blasey Ford made sexual assault allegations against him. A subsequent hearing in September before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee exposed a sharp partisan divide between Democrats and Republicans considering Kavanaugh's nomination. Kavanaugh denounced Senate Democrats during his confirmation hearing.

The U.S. Senate voted nearly entirely along party lines confirmed him to the court the following month.

As a mother of two young women, Cantil-Sakauye didn't understand the process. Why, for example, did Republicans bring in a female prosecutor to question Ford, she asked.

She said she made the decision to shed her party label in consultation with her husband and a few friends and described the process as "humbling, tough, emotional."

She described herself as conservative on some issues, but open-minded on social justice issues.

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