U.S. Senate (1985–present)
in a meeting with McConnell in the Oval Office, March 1987 with McConnell and
Elaine Chao in February 1991 shakes hands with McConnell at Bush's first inauguration, January 2001. In his early years as a politician in Kentucky, McConnell was known as a pragmatist and a moderate Republican. From 1997 to 2001, McConnell chaired the
National Republican Senatorial Committee, the body charged with securing electoral victories for Republicans. On February 12, 1999, he was one of 50 senators to vote to
convict and remove Bill Clinton from office. He was first elected
Majority Whip in the
108th Congress. Senate Majority Leader
Bill Frist did not seek reelection in the
2006 elections. In November, after Republicans lost control of the Senate, they elected McConnell minority leader. After Republicans took control of the Senate following the
2014 Senate elections, McConnell became the
Senate majority leader. In June 2018 he became the longest-serving Senate Republican leader in U.S. history. McConnell is the second Kentuckian to serve as a party leader in the Senate (after
Alben W. Barkley led the Democrats from 1937 to 1949) McConnell has a reputation as a skilled political strategist and tactician. This reputation dimmed after Republicans failed to repeal the
Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) in 2017 during consolidated Republican control of government. McConnell regularly obtained
earmarks for businesses and institutions in Kentucky until Congress banned the practice in 2010. He has been criticized for funding "temporary patches" to Kentucky's long-term healthcare problems while simultaneously opposing and obstructing national programs that seek to improve healthcare more systematically, such as
Obamacare and
Medicaid expansion.
Barack Obama As the leading Republican senator, McConnell confronted and pressured other Republican senators who were willing to negotiate with Democrats and the Obama administration. According to
Purdue University political scientist Bert A. Rockman, "pure party line voting has been evident now for some time ... but rarely has the tactic of 'oppositionism' been so boldly stated as McConnell did." According to
University of Texas legal scholar
Sanford Levinson, McConnell learned that obstruction and Republican unity were the optimal ways to ensure Republican gains in upcoming elections after he observed how Democratic cooperation with the Bush administration on
No Child Left Behind and
Medicare Part D helped Bush's
2004 reelection. Levinson noted, "McConnell altogether rationally ... concluded that Republicans have nothing to gain, as a political party, from collaborating in anything that the president could then claim as an achievement." According to political scientists Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson, "Facing off against Obama, [McConnell] worked to deny even minimal Republican support for major presidential initiatives—initiatives that were, as a rule, in keeping with the moderate model of decades past, and often with moderate Republican stances of a few years past."
The New York Times wrote early in Obama's administration that "on the major issues—not just health care, but financial regulation and the economic stimulus package, among others—Mr. McConnell has held Republican defections to somewhere between minimal and nonexistent, allowing him to slow the Democratic agenda if not defeat aspects of it." The Republican caucus threatened repeatedly to force the United States to default on its debt, McConnell saying he had learned from the
2011 debt-ceiling crisis that "it's a hostage that's worth ransoming". McConnell worked to delay and obstruct
health care reform and
banking reform, two of the most notable pieces of legislation that Democrats navigated through Congress early in Obama's tenure. Political scientists noted that "by slowing action even on measures supported by many Republicans, McConnell capitalized on the scarcity of floor time, forcing Democratic leaders into difficult trade-offs concerning which measures were worth pursuing. ... Slowing the Senate's ability to process even routine measures limited the sheer volume of liberal bills that could be adopted." Political scientists Hacker and Pierson describe the rationale behind McConnell's filibusters: "Filibusters left no fingerprints. When voters heard that legislation had been 'defeated', journalists rarely highlighted that this defeat meant a minority had blocked a majority. Not only did this strategy produce an atmosphere of gridlock and dysfunction; it also chewed up the Senate calendar, restricting the range of issues on which Democrats could progress." In April 2017, Senate Republicans led by McConnell eliminated the filibuster for Supreme Court nominations in order to end debate on the nomination of
Neil Gorsuch. In August 2019, McConnell wrote an editorial for
The New York Times strongly opposing the elimination of the filibuster on legislation.
Donald Trump ,
Mike Pence,
Paul Ryan, and McConnell celebrate the passage of the
Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, December 2017 McConnell initially endorsed fellow Kentucky senator
Rand Paul for president in 2016. Paul withdrew from the race after the Iowa caucuses, and McConnell endorsed presumptive nominee
Donald Trump on May 4, 2016. But McConnell disagreed with Trump on many occasions. In May 2016, after Trump suggested that federal judge
Gonzalo P. Curiel was biased against Trump because of his
Mexican heritage, McConnell said: "I don't agree with what [Trump] had to say. This is a man who was born in Indiana. All of us came here from somewhere else." In July 2016, after Trump criticized the parents of
Humayun Khan, a
Muslim-American soldier who was killed in Iraq, McConnell said, "All Americans should value the patriotic service of the patriots who volunteer to selflessly defend us in the armed services." On October 7, 2016, following the
Donald Trump Access Hollywood controversy, McConnell said, "As the father of three daughters, I strongly believe that Trump needs to apologize directly to women and girls everywhere, and take full responsibility for the utter lack of respect for women shown in his comments on that tape." In private, McConnell reportedly expresses disdain for Trump and "abhors" his behavior. In October 2017, White House chief strategist
Stephen Bannon and other Trump allies blamed McConnell for stalling the Trump administration's legislation. In response, McConnell cited
Neil Gorsuch's confirmation to the Supreme Court to show that the Senate supported Trump's agenda. After
Joe Biden defeated Trump in the 2020 election, McConnell at first refused to recognize Biden as the winner. In his public statements, McConnell did not repeat any of Trump's false claims of voter fraud, but did not contradict them, ignoring questions about evidence and instead arguing that Trump had the right to challenge the results. At the same time that McConnell refused to recognize Biden, he celebrated Republicans who won their Senate and House races in the same elections. On December 15, the day after the electoral college vote, McConnell reversed his stance and publicly acknowledged Biden's win, saying, "Today, I want to congratulate President-elect Joe Biden." On January 6, during the
Electoral College vote count, McConnell spoke out against the
efforts of Trump and his allies to overturn the election: Later that day, he described the
storming of the Capitol building (which occurred while the Electoral College votes were being counted) as a "failed insurrection" that "tried to disrupt our democracy". On April 10, 2021, Trump called McConnell a "dumb son of a bitch". Trump added: "I hired his wife. Did he ever say thank you?" Trump has continued to attack McConnell in personal terms since then, but McConnell has not responded publicly.
First impeachment On November 5, 2019, as the
House of Representatives began public hearings on the impeachment of President Trump, McConnell said, "I'm pretty sure how [an impeachment trial is] likely to end. ... If it were today, I don't think there's any question. It would not lead to a removal." On December 14, 2019, McConnell met with White House counsel
Pat Cipollone and White House legislative affairs director
Eric Ueland. Later that day, he said that for Trump's impeachment trial, he would be in "total coordination with the White House counsel's office" and Trump's representatives. He also said there was "no chance" the Senate would convict Trump and remove him from office. On December 17, 2019, McConnell rejected a request to call four witnesses for Trump's impeachment trial because, according to McConnell, the Senate's role was to "act as judge and jury", not to investigate. Later that day, McConnell told the media: "I'm not an impartial juror [in this impeachment trial]. This is a political process. There's not anything judicial about it." After Trump's acquittal, McConnell was noted for his ability to block witnesses, to secure Trump's acquittal, and to maintain party unity during the impeachment process. Commentators noted that he had kept Republican senators "marching in lockstep" throughout the process.
Second impeachment On January 12, 2021, it was reported that McConnell supported impeaching Trump for his role in inciting the 2021 storming of the United States Capitol, believing it would make it easier for Republicans to purge the party of Trump and rebuild the party. On January 13, despite having the authority to call for an emergency meeting of the Senate to hold the Senate trial, McConnell did not reconvene the chamber, claiming unanimous consent was required. He called for delaying the Senate trial until after Biden's inauguration. Once the Senate trial started, McConnell voted to acquit Trump on February 13, 2021, saying it was unconstitutional to convict a president who was no longer in office. The vote to convict was a bipartisan majority (
57–43) but not enough to pass the two-thirds threshold. After the vote, McConnell lambasted and condemned Trump in a 20-minute speech on the Senate floor, saying he believed Trump was guilty of everything the House managers alleged. He said: He explained why he nonetheless voted to acquit: "Article II, Section 4 must have force. It tells us the President, Vice President, and civil officers may be impeached and convicted. Donald Trump is no longer the president. Clearly that mandatory sentence cannot be applied to somebody who has left office. The entire process revolves around removal. If removal becomes impossible, conviction becomes insensible." Yet he said that Trump "didn't get away with anything yet" since Trump would remain subject to the country's criminal and civil laws. and on May 28, 2021, he voted against its creation.
Second term McConnell stepped down as Senate Republican leader in 2024, months before the
2024 United States elections.
John Thune was elected to succeed him after Republicans regained the majority in the
2024 U.S. Senate elections. McConnell has been described as largely irrelevant in Trump's second term. He has voted against three of Trump's cabinet nominees:
Pete Hegseth for
Secretary of Defense,
Tulsi Gabbard for the
Director of National Intelligence, and
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for
Secretary of Health and Human Services. McConnell has announced he will retire at the end of his term in 2027, just short of his 85th birthday.
Joe Biden McConnell's relationship with the Biden administration has been portrayed in media as one of comity. Biden has described McConnell as "a friend, colleague and 'man of his word.'" McConnell has praised bipartisan legislation they worked on together, and was the only Republican to attend the 2015 funeral of Biden's son
Beau Biden. In October 2021, McConnell helped pass a bill that extended the
debt ceiling. He convinced 11 Republicans to vote with the Democrats for it, without which the United States would have defaulted on its debts.
Judicial nominees Under Obama Throughout Obama's tenure, McConnell led Senate Republicans in what has been called "a disciplined, sustained, at times underhanded campaign to deny the Democratic president the opportunity to appoint federal judges". In June 2009, after Obama nominated
Sonia Sotomayor as associate justice, McConnell and
Jeff Sessions opined that Sotomayor's 17 years as a federal judge and over 3,600 judicial opinions would require lengthy review and advocated against Democrats hastening the confirmation process. On July 17, McConnell announced that he would vote against Sotomayor's confirmation. In August, McConnell called Sotomayor "a fine person with an impressive story and a distinguished background" but said he did not believe she would withhold her personal or political views while serving as a justice. Sotomayor was confirmed days later. In May 2010, after President Obama nominated
Elena Kagan to succeed the retiring
John Paul Stevens, McConnell said in a Senate speech that Americans wanted to make sure Kagan would be independent of influence from White House as an associate justice and noted that Obama called Kagan a friend of his in announcing her nomination. McConnell announced his opposition to Kagan's confirmation, saying she was not forthcoming enough about her "views on basic principles of American constitutional law". Kagan was confirmed the next month. In 2014, Republicans gained control of the Senate, and McConnell became majority leader; he used his new power to start what was considered "a near blockade" of Obama's judicial appointments. According to
The New York Times, Obama's final two years as president saw 18 district court judges and one appeals court judge confirmed, the fewest since President
Harry S. Truman. In comparison, the final two years of the presidencies of
George W. Bush,
Bill Clinton, and
Ronald Reagan had between 55 and 70 district court judges each confirmed and between 10 and 15 appeals court judges confirmed. In a 2019 interview, McConnell credited himself for the large number of judicial vacancies created in the last two years of Obama's presidency. Shortly thereafter, McConnell issued a statement indicating that the Senate would not consider any Supreme Court nominee Obama put forth. "The American people should have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court justice. Therefore, this vacancy should not be filled until we have a new president", McConnell said. Under McConnell's direction, Senate Republicans refused to take any action on the nomination. Garland's nomination expired on January 3, 2017, with the end of the
114th Congress. In an August 2016 speech in Kentucky, McConnell said, "one of my proudest moments was when I looked Barack Obama in the eye and I said, 'Mr. President, you will not fill the Supreme Court vacancy.'" In April 2018, McConnell said the decision not to act on Garland's nomination was "the most consequential decision I've made in my entire public career". Political scientists and legal scholars called McConnell's refusal to hold Senate hearings on Garland "unprecedented", a "culmination of [his] confrontational style", a "blatant abuse of constitutional norms", and a "classic example of constitutional hardball". Gorsuch's nomination was confirmed on April 7, 2017, after McConnell eliminated the filibuster on Supreme Court nominees. On July 18, 2018, with
Andy Oldham's Senate confirmation, Senate Republicans broke a record for largest number of
appeals court judiciary
confirmations during a president's first two years; Oldham became the 23rd appeals court judge confirmed in Trump's term. McConnell said he considers the judiciary to be the item of Trump's first two years with the longest-lasting impact on the country. The record for the number of
circuit court judges confirmed during a president's first year was broken in 2017, while the previous two-year record of 22 confirmations took place under President
George H. W. Bush. By March 2020, McConnell had contacted an unknown number of judges, encouraging them to retire before the 2020 election. He confirmed
260 federal judges during Trump's four-year term,
shifting the federal judiciary to the right. (middle), the nominee to replace retiring Justice
Anthony Kennedy, and vice president
Mike Pence, 2018 In July 2018, Trump nominated Brett Kavanaugh to replace the retiring
Anthony Kennedy as an associate justice of the Supreme Court. McConnell accused Democrats of
creating an "extreme" distortion of Kavanaugh's record during his hearings. In September 2018,
Christine Blasey Ford publicly alleged that Kavanaugh had sexually assaulted her in 1982. After it was reported that Democrats were investigating a second allegation against Kavanaugh, McConnell said, "I want to make it perfectly clear. ... Judge Kavanaugh will be voted on here on the Senate floor." Kavanaugh was confirmed on October 6. McConnell said the confirmation process was a low point for the Senate, but also downplayed reports of dysfunction in the Senate; he said claims that the Senate was "somehow broken over this [were] simply inaccurate". In October 2018, McConnell said if a Supreme Court vacancy were to occur in 2020, he would not repeat his 2016 decision to let the winner of the upcoming presidential election nominate a justice. He argued that because in 2016 the Senate was controlled by a party other than the president's, the 2016 precedent was not applicable in 2020, when Republicans controlled both the presidency and Senate. In September 2020, after
Ruth Bader Ginsburg died, he announced the Senate would vote on Trump's nominated replacement. On October 23, McConnell set in place the Senate debate on the confirmation of
Amy Coney Barrett to fill Ginsburg's seat. Barrett was confirmed on October 26.
Government shutdowns The federal government shut down on October 1–17, 2013, after Congress failed to enact legislation to fund it. McConnell later vowed Republicans would not force the U.S. to default on its debt or shut down the government in 2014, when stopgap funding measures were set to expire. He also said he would not allow other Republicans to obstruct the budget-making process. In July 2018, McConnell said funding for the
Mexico–United States border wall would likely have to wait until the midterms had concluded. Trump tweeted two days later that he was willing to allow a government shutdown to get funding. Several spending bills were approved that August; the approvals were seen as a victory for McConnell in his attempts to prevent another government shutdown.
Shutdown of 2018–2019 From December 22, 2018, until January 25, 2019, the
federal government shut down when Congress refused to give in to Trump's demand for $5.7 billion in federal funds for a
U.S.–Mexico border wall. In December 2018, the
Republican-controlled Senate unanimously passed an appropriations bill without wall funding, and the Republican-controlled
House of Representatives and Trump appeared likely to approve the bill. After Trump faced heavy criticism from some
right-wing media outlets and pundits for appearing to back down on his campaign promise to
"build the wall", he said he would not sign any appropriations bill that did not fund the wall. During this shutdown, McConnell blocked the Senate from voting on appropriations legislation and said it was not his place to mediate between the Senate and Trump. Privately, McConnell had advised Trump against initiating the shutdown. Privately, other Republican senators pressured McConnell to stop blocking appropriations legislation. The shutdown ended on January 25, when Trump signed a three-week funding measure reopening the government until February 15 without funds for a border wall. This was the longest government shutdown in American history.
COVID-19 response In response to the
COVID-19 pandemic, McConnell initially opposed the
Families First Coronavirus Response Act, calling it a Democratic "ideological wish list". He reversed his position when Trump endorsed the proposed package. The bill passed in the Senate by a vote of 90–8. McConnell also directed Senate Republicans in negotiations for two other COVID-19 response packages: the
Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2020 and the
CARES Act. The CARES Act was the largest
economic stimulus package in U.S. history, amounting to 10% of total U.S.
gross domestic product. It passed both houses of Congress with bipartisan support. Speaking on the
Hugh Hewitt radio show on April 22, 2020, McConnell suggested that states should be able to declare bankruptcy instead of receiving additional COVID-19 aid funds—funds he implied would be used to save insolvent state pension funds instead of for COVID-19 relief. His comments were sharply criticized by various state and local officials. States cannot declare bankruptcy. After the CARES Act passed, McConnell waited several months before advancing any additional COVID-19 relief measures in the Senate, saying in May, "I don't think we have yet felt the urgency of acting immediately" and that Congress should "[hit] pause" to evaluate how the allocated funds were working before approving more. He was absent from negotiations between congressional Democrats and White House officials for an additional aid package. On September 10, 2020, a pared-down COVID-19 relief bill crafted by McConnell failed to pass the Senate because of a Democratic filibuster. Democrats called the bill "completely inadequate" given the scope of the COVID-19 crisis and a partisan maneuver to help Republican senators up for reelection. McConnell called the bill a choice between "do[ing] something" and "do[ing] nothing", and said he was holding the procedural vote to get lawmakers on the record about their willingness to compromise on COVID-19 legislation.
Approval ratings As the leader of the Senate Republicans, McConnell has received much of the criticism and disapproval that Republicans receive from Democratic voters, receiving near uniform disapproval from left-of-center voters. Furthermore, as a result of his unpopularity with Trump and the more populist base, McConnell has had historically low approval for a senator by the electorate as a whole: a 2012 poll and a 2016 poll each found that McConnell had the lowest home-state approval rating of any sitting senator. With a 49% disapproval rate in 2017, McConnell had the highest disapproval rating of any senator. In September 2019, the
Morning Consult found that McConnell's approval rating had been underwater since the first quarter of 2017, when it was 44% positive and 47% negative. The worst rating since that time was in the fourth quarter of 2018, when he had a 38% positive rating and a 47% negative rating among Kentuckians. But as of the second quarter of 2019, McConnell's ratings were 36% positive and 50% negative. He netted −56 among Democrats, +29 among Republicans, and −24 among Independents. An average of polls by the Economist/YouGov, Politico/Morning Consult, and Harvard-Harris from the end of July through August 2019 (7/31–8/27), was 23% favorable and 48% unfavorable (−25.0 spread). In 2020, according to Morning Consult,
Susan Collins edged out McConnell as the least popular senator with a 52% unfavorable rating from Maine voters compared to 50% for McConnell.
Committee assignments McConnell's committee assignments for the 118th Congress are as follows: •
Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry •
Subcommittee on Commodities, Risk Management, and Trade •
Subcommittee on Conservation, Climate, Forestry, and Natural Resources •
Subcommittee on Food and Nutrition, Specialty Crops, Organics, and Research •
Committee on Appropriations •
Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies •
Subcommittee on Defense •
Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development •
Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies •
Subcommittee on Military Construction and Veterans' Affairs, and Related Agencies •
Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs •
Committee on Rules and Administration (Chair) ==Political positions==