Despite Opposition Effort By Rick Scott, Mitch McConnell Reelected as GOP Senate Leader

U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) was reelected today as the GOP Senate Leader, despite an opposition effort by U.S. Senator Rick Scott (R-FL).

Many Republican voters are likely to be frustrated by the news, although McConnell was able to raise more than $200 million in an effort to help Republicans win back the Senate majority this election cycle.

According to Axios reporter Alayna Treene, per a person in the room, ten Senate Republicans voted against McConnell and one voted present.

Mitch McConnell is reelected as Minority Leader in a secret ballot vote — 10 Senate Republicans voted against him, and one voted present, per a person in the room

— Alayna Treene (@alaynatreene) November 16, 2022

In a recent interview, 2024 GOP presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump didn’t endorse Scott explicitly, although he said he thought that Scott would be better suited for the position.

“I think Rick Scott would be much better than McConnell. I know McConnell well. I guess probably better than most,” Trump said.

Trump added, “I’m not a fan of McConnell and I am a fan of Rick Scott, and you have others in there that would be very good.”

McConnell appeared to take a shot at Trump yesterday when he told reporters, “Every one of our candidates knew what they were for, expressed it quite clearly. It’s pretty obvious, and all of you have been writing about it, what happened.”

“We underperformed among independents and moderates because their impression of many of the people in our party in leadership roles is that they’re involved in chaos, negativity, excessive attacks, and it frightened independent and moderate Republican voters,” McConnell claimed.

U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) and other conservatives made a motion to delay the leadership election until after the Dec. 6 Georgia runoff that ultimately failed.

Donald Trump Suggests Likely Support for a Rick Scott GOP Senate Leadership to Glenn Beck