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“There are things written that indicate that he has had challenges in his life. On the other hand, the good news is that he has made several impressive performances on national television. His whole team is the same team around [former Sen.] Johnny Isakson, ”McConnell said in an interview this week. ” He called me ; we had a good conversation. I think everything suggests that he will be a good candidate.
Republicans across the country will sigh in relief at McConnell’s remarks as Trump prepares to side with Walker in Georgia on Saturday. McConnell did not personally reconcile with Trump after berating him for starting the pro-Trump insurgency on Capitol Hill on Jan.6. oust McConnell as Republican leader.
The only real political conflict between the two GOP titans is currently in Alaska, where McConnell has said his party will do everything in its power to defend outgoing Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski as Trump seeks to overthrow her. McConnell does not otherwise view Trump’s endorsements of Walker, Sean Parnell in Pennsylvania, Rep. Mo Brooks in Alabama, Rep. Ted Budd in North Carolina, and Adam Laxalt in Nevada as counterproductive to take back the majority.
Asked about Brooks, a Tory brand who has upset party leaders for years, McConnell replied, “He’s a Republican, isn’t he? The magic number is 51.
And while GOP leaders have close issues with any of these candidates, they are not serious enough to start an internal civil war with the former president.
“I don’t see Sharron Angle, Christine O’Donnell, Todd Akin or Richard Mourdock out there,” said McConnell, referring to the toxic Republican Senate candidates who blew up winnable races in 2010 and 2012. “I don’t don’t think there’s a lot of chance we’re going to end up with a nominee who can’t win in november.
Still, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who chaired the National Republican Senate Committee in 2010 and 2012, said it was “still a little early” to judge whether the party would rally around candidates who might be. anchor points during a general election. The NRSC is officially neutral in the open primaries of this cycle, even as Trump offers his blessings in the contested races.
Republicans only need one seat to regain a majority in the Senate, although it’s also possible that they will lose seats given a map that requires them to defend seats in states Biden won like the Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. It’s a less favorable battleground than the midterms of 2018, when Senate Republicans won seats even as House Republicans were crushed and lost a majority.
McConnell described next year’s Senate battle as a “50/50 proposition.” Republicans are defending more territory, but Democrats face the challenge of trying to retain a narrow majority in a midterm election that’s historically tough for Washington’s ruling party.
“We’re going to have… a referendum on the Biden administration. Everything he’s done so far probably exacerbates the remorse of the natural buyer that usually sets in within two years of an administration, ”said McConnell, citing the southern border, Afghanistan and spending plans. democrats.
McConnell declined to say whether Trump would help him regain a majority. He hasn’t spoken to the former president since December, when he declared Joe Biden duly-elected president amid Trump’s false allegations of a stolen election.
Democrats like Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Who chairs the party’s campaign arm in the Senate, reject Republican chant about the deteriorating environment around Biden’s approval ratings over more than one year before polling day:
“It’s far too early … I’m not worried,” said Peters, who added that Republicans “are trying to prove they’re most loyal to Donald Trump, I don’t think that’s going to be a good strategy. for them. “
The Senate map is also not fully formed. McConnell is awaiting key decisions from four of his incumbents for their re-election campaigns. McConnell has said he wants Senators Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and John Thune (RS.D.) to show up again and do anything to protect Murkowski. Grassley announced on Friday that he would seek re-election.
“We are all for Lisa. In all directions. Senate Leadership Fund, NRSC, we are all supportive of Lisa. I think it will have a competitive race, ”said McConnell. The Senate Leadership Fund is the GOP’s primary super PAC for Senate races.
Republicans are also hoping to bring together two high-profile governors who could change the complexion of the Senate card if they challenge the incumbent Democrats. If GOP Govs. Arizona’s Doug Ducey and New Hampshire’s Chris Sununu take on the Sens Democrats, respectively. Mark Kelly and Maggie Hassan, McConnell made it clear that these two candidates would be his preference in these races. (It comes as Trump says warm words about Don Bolduc in New Hampshire.)
McConnell sees the main battlegrounds on the Senate map as seats held by Democrats in Georgia, New Hampshire, Nevada, and Arizona, and seats held by the GOP in North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Wisconsin and Missouri. He omitted Colorado, where Senator Michael Bennet (D) is running for reelection in a Democratic-leaning state in recent years.
And despite McConnell’s sunny view of Trump endorsements, some races are getting ugly. In Pennsylvania, Jeff Bartos called Parnell “ineligible” because his wife sought protection orders against him several years ago. Outgoing Senator Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) Said he was still weighing whether to approve a potential successor and conceded that fighting between GOP rivals is “not something you like to see.”
Retired senators have opposed Trump’s choices elsewhere, with Sen. Richard Burr (RN.C.) backing former Gov. Pat McCrory over Budd and Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) Backing his former leader firm Katie Boyd Britt rather than Brooks. McConnell and the NRSC, however, are not going.
In a 50-50 Senate, every race counts. McConnell laments that if his party had held one of the seats in Georgia it would have shut down the Democrats’ $ 1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill and the $ 3.5 trillion social spending bill. currently under discussion. But the self-proclaimed Senate “grim reaper” said her party didn’t necessarily show up on a platform to stop Biden on everything.
McConnell has cooperated with Biden on infrastructure, for example, but refuses to throw the president a lifeline on the debt limit, whipping his members to block a raise unless Democrats pass one via a vote of party line. He also worked with Democrats on a competitiveness bill and hate crimes legislation.
“If you look at 2014, which is a good Republican year, we ran against Obama. But we also did business with him. 21st Century Cures Bill, Trade Promotion Authority, ”McConnell said, referring to a healthcare modernization bill and a free trade vote.
Of course, the Kentuckian also barred former President Barack Obama from taking a Supreme Court seat once he got a majority. In some ways, Biden’s ability to confirm a High Court candidate if Judge Stephen Breyer retires is the biggest prize next year.
If Democrats lose a seat or more next year and there is a Supreme Court seat under a divided government, will McConnell mount a blockade again?
“Cross those bridges when I get there, we’re focusing on ’22,” McConnell said. “I’m not ruling out anything about how to handle appointments if I’m in the majority position.”
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