McConnell plans to stay on as Senate GOP leader even if he loses majority

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said on Tuesday that he intends to stay on as Republican leader even if his party loses control of the upper chamber in November.

Asked if he intends to seek the GOP leader spot in the next Congress even if Republicans lose the majority, McConnell told reporters: “I do.”

McConnell, who became GOP leader in 2007, is already the longest-serving Republican leader, a milestone he surpassed in 2018. He has been majority leader since 2015, when Republicans took control of the Senate. Before that he was minority leader starting in January 2007.

McConnell’s comments on Tuesday, which were first reported by Politico and confirmed to The Hill by a spokesman, come as Republicans are fighting to hold onto the Senate, where they currently have a 53-seat majority.

McConnell has warned that the battle for the Senate will be a “dogfight.”

“Let me just say that the Senate majority has not been a certainty at any point this cycle. We always knew from the beginning, and I’ve said consistently, that it’s going to be a dogfight,” McConnell added during a Fox News interview in April. 

Political handicappers have warned that Democrats are increasingly within striking distance of retaking the Senate in November, where they will need a net pickup of four seats to win an outright majority.

Sen. Doug Jones (D-Ala.) is viewed as particularly vulnerable and a prime pick-up opportunity for Republicans. They are also looking at Michigan, where Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) is up for reelection, as a potentially vulnerable race, which the Cook Political Report ranks as “lean Democratic.”

But Republicans are also playing defense in several key races.

Republican Sens. Cory Gardner (Colo.), Susan Collins (Maine), Thom Tillis (N.C.) and Martha McSally (Ariz.) are all in races that the Cook Political Report ranks as a toss-up.

Sens. David Perdue (R-Ga.), Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Steve Daines (R-Mont.) and the open race in Kansas, where Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kansas) is retiring, are all ranked as “lean Republican.”

“As voters across the country grow increasingly fed up with Mitch McConnell’s corruption and gridlock in Washington, Republicans must answer whether they plan to vote to keep their toxic leader in charge if they are in the Senate next year,” Stewart Boss, spokesperson for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, said in a statement.