McConnell to give taped remarks as part of GOP convention

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) will give taped remarks as part of the Republican National Convention next week, his campaign confirmed. 

The announcement comes after his campaign initially indicated on Thursday that he would not speak as part of the convention. But Katharine Cooksey, a spokeswoman for McConnell’s campaign, said that was a “miscommunication” and that the GOP leader will be submitting taped remarks. 

The Republican convention is set to start on Monday and run through next Thursday. While meetings will take place in Charlotte, N.C., most of the prime-time speeches are expected to be virtual, similar to the Democratic convention. 

In an unprecedented move, President Trump is planning to give his acceptance speech from the White House, and other speeches are expected to take place around Washington. 

McConnell, 78, is running for his seventh term. After being eyed for years with wariness by the party’s base, he has garnered praise from conservatives during the Trump administration by focusing on confirming judges at a record-breaking pace. 

In addition to his own race — which some polls suggest could be tight, though McConnell remains the favorite — he’s also fighting to hold on to his Senate majority, where Republicans hold a 53-47 margin. To take back the Senate Democrats either need a net gain of three seats and to win the White House or a net pick up for four seats for an outright majority. 

Republicans believe they will pick up a seat in Alabama, where Democratic Sen. Doug Jones (Ala.) is fighting for his political life, complicating Democrats’ path. 

But Republicans are also playing defense in a growing number of states including Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Iowa, Maine, Montana and North Carolina, where GOP senators are on the ballot. 

McConnell warned earlier this month that control of the Senate in November “could go either way.” 

“What I’d tell you is this is a tough fight,” he told Fox News, adding that there were approximately eight Senate races that he would compare to “a knife fight in an alley.”