Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is one of America’s most unpopular political figures, with a recent poll from Civiqs putting his favorability rating at just 7%. However, that hasn’t stopped him from keeping his job.
According to Breitbart, McConnell was reelected on Wednesday with support from 37 members of the Senate Republican Conference.
Ten senators vote for challenger Rick Scott
Ten of the Conference’s 50 members cast ballots for Florida Sen. Rick Scott, with Breitbart noting that this is the first time McConnell has faced opposing votes since he first assumed his party’s leadership in 2006.
Among those who backed Scott was Indiana Sen. Mike Braun. NPR quoted him as saying, “I don’t think we’re generating the results politically or governmentally.
“We don’t have an agenda,” the lawmaker continued, adding, “We don’t have a business plan. That doesn’t work anywhere else.”
NPR reported that Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley spoke up as well, declaring, “Nobody, not Republicans, not independents, not Democrats in my state are happy with the leadership in Washington. I’m not either. So I’m on their side, not on the side of these guys.”
Scott sent a letter to his fellow Republican senators earlier this week in which he told them, “If you simply want to stick with the status quo, don’t vote for me.”
Here’s the letter Rick Scott sent to his colleagues saying he would challenge Mitch McConnell for GOP leader pic.twitter.com/BP3rk4UtXz
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) November 15, 2022
For his part, McConnell sounded a note of humility following his win. NBC News senior national political reporter Sahil Kapur quoted the Kentucky Republican as saying, “I don’t own this job.”
McConnell on Trump’s presidential run: “I don’t have a dog in that fight”
“Anybody who wants to run for it can feel free to do so. So I’m not in any way offended by having an opponent or having a few votes in opposition,” he added.
Kapur reported that McConnell also addressed former President Donald Trump’s announcement that he will make another White House run, saying, “The way I’m going to go into this presidential primary season is to stay out of it.”
“I don’t have a dog in that fight. I think it’s gonna be a highly contested nomination fight, with other candidates entering,” he predicted.