The office of Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky announced Wednesday afternoon that he had won the support of his colleagues to continue to lead when the novel Congress begins in January 2023, despite a last-minute challenge from NRSC Chairman Rick Scott of Florida.
According to a source on the floor, the vote on McConnell was this
–37 Vote “Yes”
–10 Vote “No”
–One vote is present— Philip Melanchthon Wegmann (@PhilipWegmann) November 16, 2022
The final vote, conducted by secret ballot, was 37-10 in McConnell’s favor, with one senator voting “present,” securing another leadership victory for the longest-serving GOP leader in the country’s history.
McConnell’s continued leadership position was briefly called into question after his term ended last Tuesday, when a handful of his Republican colleagues called for the leadership election to be postponed until after the Georgia Senate runoffs and Senator Scott put his name forward to challenge McConnell. These attempts failed, however, as only 16 members supported the motion to delay the vote, which passed as planned, and McConnell once again prevailed over his opponents.
McConnell’s newly elected GOP leadership team includes Senators John Thune as Whip, John Barrasso as Conference Chair, Joni Ernst as Policy Chair, Shelley Moore Capito as Conference Vice Chair, and Steve Daines as NRSC Chair.
Earlier this week, McConnell appeared on the Senate floor to give a speech welcoming the novel senators-elect who are set to join the upper chamber after their victories last Tuesday.
““They include a star lawyer and leader from Alabama, the attorney general from the great state of Missouri, the lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania, a businessman and best-selling author from Ohio, and three distinguished members of the House of Representatives,” McConnell said.
“Exactly 25 years ago, as he welcomed the new Senate Class of 1996, Senator Robert Byrd told them that serving in that body was both “the highest honor,” “grave responsibility,” and “the highest political calling in the land.” – added the GOP leader, and then shared his hope that another GOP senator would go to Washington from Georgia after the December second round of elections.
“Since President Biden took the oath of office, Georgia families have seen prices increase by almost 15 percent,” McConnell noted. “They are spending hundreds of extra dollars every month to foot the bill for the massive, reckless spending spree that their two Democratic senators pushed through with decisive votes.”
McConnell continued the choice Peach State voters are expected to make between now and December 6:
Needless to say, this completely avoidable Democrat inflation tax has landed Georgia workers and small business owners in quite a bit of trouble.
“It’s absolutely murderous,” one Columbus resident told reporters. “Food and petrol prices. Inflation is terrible.”
Of course it didn’t have to be this way.
Georgian senators did not have to vote in lockstep with Washington Democrats to overheat our economy with reckless spending.
Georgia’s two Democratic senators didn’t have to vote for two trillion dollars in inflation spending. They didn’t have to vote for hundreds of billions of dollars in left-wing climate policy.
But every time hard-working Georgian people needed checks and balances, their Democratic senators merely gave them a rubber stamp.
When Georgians needed their senators to defend independence, they simply agreed.
Asked Wednesday whether he would step down from his leadership position when he crossed the line record on the longest-serving party leader in the Senate, appointed by Montana’s Michael Mansfield, McConnell joked: “I’m not going anywhere.”
