Mitch McConnell Reaches For One More Power Grab

A little over a week after a red wave election rolled Republicans back in control of the Senate, an internal election awaits Wednesday morning to determine who will lead the newly minted majority. 

The rapid-fire leadership election, churning up infighting just days after big electoral victories, is the work of Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., the center of power in the Senate Republican Conference for nearly 20 years. 

‘Outrageous Violation’

McConnell announced in February he would step down as Republican leader at the end of the year, closing out his time as the long-serving party leader in the history of the Senate. The 82-year-old Kentucky Republican, who served as majority leader from 2015 to 2021, exits the leadership post with one more power grab, one of his sharpest critics says. 

“He may be giving up the leadership position but I think he wants to maintain control,” Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., said Tuesday afternoon on the “Vicki McKenna Show” in Milwaukee and Madison. 

McConnell’s departure and the shift in Senate control has sparked a three-way battle for Senate majority leader. In the running are Sen. Rick Scott of Florida and McConnell acolytes, Sens. John Thune of South Dakota and John Cornyn of Texas — the latter two establishment Republicans and consummate yes men to their mentor McConnell. Thune, Senate Republican whip, appears to hold the edge in the election, but he’s had a rocky relationship with Trump over the years — just like boss McConnell whose loathing of the president-elect is well known. Thune has urged Trump to stay out of the Senate’s leadership contest. 

Thune joined the chorus of swamp creatures on the right and left painting Trump as an insurrectionist for challenging the results of the rigged 2020 election.  

“What former President Trump did to undermine faith in our election system and disrupt the peaceful transfer of power is inexcusable,” Thune said. The South Dakota senator eventually came around this year and endorsed Trump’s third presidential campaign. 

Johnson was the first to voice his full-throated support for Scott, a fellow McConnell critic and “extraordinary individual,” the Wisconsin senator said. Johnson, Scott, and Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) have served as a kind of  conservative resistance front against McConnell’s establishment games and penchant for spending. 

Johnson said it was an “outrageous violation” of McConnell’s leadership position to call the swift election designed to limit member input before Wednesday’s secret ballot election. 

“This is something McConnell cooked up to just ramrod through the election to get the election results he wanted …” Johnson said. The leader’s critics say the Kentucky senator wants to continue to control the levers of Senate Republican leadership. 

Some senators complained that Senate Republican Conference Chairman John Barrasso, R-Wyo., announced, without discussion, the leadership election would be held the week after the presidential election.  

“So, I’m not happy with that. I think there are a number of people not happy,” Johnson said, adding that he was not “100 percent sure” the vote would take place Wednesday. 

‘Business as Usual or …’

Senate Republicans held a candidate forum Tuesday evening, organized by Lee’s steering committee, Johnson said. But some of the members weren’t expected to be in attendance, instead opting to appear at an American Enterprise Institute dinner honoring McConnell. 

Fox News Digital reported Tuesday night that Scott had picked up a couple more endorsements at the candidate forum. Senators told the news outlet that the event allowed for a wide-ranging discussion with the candidates. Lee threw his support behind Scott, as did Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, Fox News reported. 

Thune told reporters that he thought his colleagues asked “lots of good questions.” He resisted talking about where he thought his support stood, saying, “You never know until the voters vote.” 

Cornyn, meanwhile, sent out a Dear Colleague letter on Tuesday, pledging to fix a dysfunctional Senate. 

“It’s no secret that the Senate has not functioned as it should for some time,” Cornyn wrote in the letter obtained by CQ Roll Call.

On Tuesday afternoon, Johnson said it seemed everything was “up in the air,” but being driven, per usual, by McConnell’s preferences. He thought Thune was the frontrunner because “McConnell maintains more control than he should not being majority leader.” 

“We’ll see how this plays out. I really can’t predict it,” the senator said.

He lobbied again for Scott. 

“And so what this vote for leadership really is, is business as usual or a businessperson’s approach” to leadership, the senator said. 

Matt Kittle is a senior elections correspondent for The Federalist. An award-winning investigative reporter and 30-year veteran of print, broadcast, and online journalism, Kittle previously served as the executive director of Empower Wisconsin.