McConnell elected to another term leading Senate Republicans

Steve Rogers,

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WTVQ/AP) – U.S. Sens. Mitch McConnell and Chuck Schumer were reelected Tuesday as leaders of their caucuses, foreshadowing another potentially bitter two years in divided Senate, especially since actual majority control likely won’t be decided until a special election in early January.

McConnell, the Kentucky Republican, was elected today by acclamation of his Republican colleagues to serve as the Senate Republican Leader for the 117th Congress.

McConnell has served as the Republican Leader since the 110th Congress in 2007-2009. He is the longest-serving Senate Republican leader in the history of the United States and is only the second Kentuckian to ever serve as Majority Leader in the U.S. Senate.

The first, Senator Alben Barkley, led the Democrats from 1937 to 1949. 

During his press conference on Capitol Hill, Senator McConnell said, “Grateful to my Senate Republican colleagues for their unanimous confidence in me to continue serving as Leader. We have a lot more to do to continue fighting for working families and strengthening our great country.

While control of the Senate is still up for grabs, both parties did not see major changes to their leadership.

The contrast, however, was stark. While Democrats quickly conducted their election business and moved on, Republicans met for more than 90 minutes.

“Everybody’s ecstatic. I think that’s part of why it’s taking so long. We’ve had a lot of excitement about the results. Everybody’s happy with the leadership,” said Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana.

Tuesday’s leadership election was the first time the Senate Democratic Caucus met in person in about eight months, because of the coronavirus.

“We picked up seats, we have a chance to still be in the majority and while I think you have to engage in a process of reflection we also shouldn’t beat ourselves up too bad,” said Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut. “Chuck is also just a very unique figure in the caucus. There’s no one who works harder to keep in touch with everyone in the caucus … there was no question about who our leader was going to be. “

Republicans are headed into next year with a narrow majority. But if Democrats win two runoff races in Georgia on Jan. 5, they will take back the majority with a 50-50 Senate and Joe Biden as president.

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