Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will run to remain the Senate’s top Republican next year, even if Republicans lose the upper chamber.
David Popp, a spokesman for the Kentucky Republican, confirmed that McConnell is planning to run to be leader of the Senate Republican Conference no matter the outcome of Tuesday’s election. The battle for control of the Senate is running down to the wire, with roughly six seats still too close to call.
{mosads}If Republicans keep control of the Senate, McConnell would be set to retain the majority leader position. If they lose, McConnell would be poised to become the minority leader, a position he held for roughly eight years before Republicans took control of the Senate in 2015.
A McConnell aide also confirmed his plans to CNN.
No GOP senator has publicly expressed an interest in challenging McConnell, and Sen. Mike Lee’s (Utah) plan to challenge Sen. John Barrasso (Wyo.) as the Senate GOP policy chairman was quickly quashed earlier this year. The leadership elections for 2017–2018 Congress are expected to take place later this year.
“We just completed a Senate Republican Conference in which we basically reconfirmed the precedent with regard to partial terms and their impact on the three-term limit to some of our leadership positions and committee chairs,” McConnell said earlier this year.
The move means no member of the current Senate GOP leadership team will have to step down in 2017.
Republicans are defending 24 Senate seats on Tuesday. Democrats need to pick up five seats — or four if they also retain the White House — to gain back control of the majority.