Senate Democrats panic about what a post-McConnell GOP could bring

Democrats are being forced to reckon with the uncomfortable reality that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-KY) decision to step down has placed them in.

No one in the Democratic Party would claim to be a great fan of McConnell, but his departure as the top Senate Republican puts them in a bind. Democrats have long made McConnell a boogeyman, vilifying him for everything from blocking former President Barack Obama’s nomination of current Attorney General Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court to refusing to hold former President Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial until after he left office. 

With his departure now confirmed and the contest to be his successor well underway, Democrats are fretting about what comes next and musing to the Washington Examiner that perhaps McConnell wasn’t the worst negotiating partner after all. 

“I disagreed with Mitch McConnell on a huge number of issues,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) said. “I believe his work, particularly to advance Donald Trump’s agenda to give us an extreme Supreme Court, has done immeasurable damage to our nation. Even so, his replacement could be worse. 

“If the Republicans in the Senate go the way of the House and spend all of their time parroting whatever Donald Trump tells them to say, then our nation is in even bigger trouble,” she added.

“I hope that whoever the replacement is, it’s not more of a MAGA kind of agent of chaos,” Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) said. “It’s not entertainment; it’s about governance.”

McConnell has emerged as a bipartisan figure in recent years despite his strong conservative bona fides, the result of his commitment to protecting the filibuster and his opposition to Trump and the isolationist policies put forward by the populist wing of his party. 

The filibuster is of particular importance to McConnell, who views the rule as critical to protecting the Senate as an institution. He refused to agree to a dual governing coalition with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) in early 2020, when both parties shared control of the chamber 50-50, until he had assurances from Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) that they would not support Democratic-led efforts to abolish the filibuster. 

He has also been willing to support several bipartisan efforts in the upper chamber under President Joe Biden as a result, including the infrastructure bill and the defense supplemental spending bill that provided assistance to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan. 

“When you consider what we were able to accomplish last Congress, bipartisan legislation [like the] infrastructure bill, CHIPS, veterans healthcare expansion, marriage equality, these things require that we all work together. I disagree with Sen. McConnell on a lot of things, but that legislation does not happen without him,” Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) told the Washington Examiner.

“My hope is that Republicans who are going to vote to elect another Republican leader will realize the same thing, that the country is a better place when we can do things in a bipartisan way,” he added. 

McConnell, the longest-serving Senate leader of all time, announced on Wednesday that this Congress would be his last as head of the GOP conference. The news sparked renewed interest in his potential successors, of which there are currently three natural heirs: Senate Minority Whip John Thune (R-SD), Senate Republican Conference Chairman John Barrasso (R-WY), and Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), who announced his run on Thursday.

The trio of possible Republican leaders, described around Washington as the “Three Johns” due to their shared moniker, are all members of McConnell’s leadership team. Cornyn was term-limited out of his role as whip, with Thune succeeding him, but has remained a key McConnell adviser and ally. 

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It’s not clear if any other members of the conference will step forward to try and take on McConnell’s mantle, though Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) has been rumored to be considering a bid. 

For his part, Trump has not endorsed any candidate, potential or declared, in the contest.