Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Wednesday congratulated his former Senate opponent Matt Bevin (R) for his win in Kentucky’s gubernatorial election.
“I remember when the Republican nomination was hardly worth it in Kentucky,” McConnell said. “The governor-elect and I are no strangers to spirited competition but we’re also conservative Kentuckians happy to see change coming to Frankfort.”
{mosads}Bevin — a Tea Party politician who challenged McConnell in last year’s Senate Republican primary — bested Democrat Jack Conway by a 53-44 voter margin on Tuesday.
McConnell said the election was a “statement” about Kentucky’s political direction, with Bevin poised to become the second Republican governor in the Bluegrass State in four decades.
“Here’s something they certainly don’t want: More of this administration’s top-down, ‘Washington knows best’ approach from everything from healthcare to how best to use our natural resources,” McConnell added.
Bevin campaigned on a pledge to reduce Kentucky’s Medicaid expansion.
McConnell campaigned with Bevin during the election, and appeared with him at an event on Monday.
“Competition is OK. We had a spirited competition last year. He had another one this year. He won the nomination. He’s the candidate of change,” the Republican leader said Monday, according to a local ABC affiliate.