Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell may be finished in Washington DC after a credible report claims Senators are jockeying for position ahead of an expected retirement announcement.
Mitch was hospitalized following a recent fall and has not been seen in public since. He has made a few comments on social media.
According to the report, multiple sources confirm that Senators John Barrasso of Wyoming, John Cornyn of Texas, and John Thune of South Dakota are talking to other Republican senators to prepare for a leadership vote that would happen after Mitch retired.
The report says McConnell would be retiring from his duties as leader, and ‘presumably the Senate itself.’
McConnell fell at a dinner on March 8 at the Waldorf Astoria, formerly the Trump Hotel, in Washington, DC. He suffered a concussion. McConnell has led the Republican Senate since 2007.
He has frequently feuded with former President Donald Trump, the presumptive GOP nominee for the 2024 presidential election.
According to The Spectator:
Cornyn has been particularly active in his preparations, taking fellow senators with whom he has little in common to lunch in attempts to court them.
Requests are being targeted at a plethora of conservative senators, including the sixteen who voted to delay the leadership election earlier this year, a proxy for opposition to McConnell’s leadership.
Rick Scott, the Florida senator and former NRSC head who challenged McConnell, ultimately received ten protest votes.
These members could prove key to determining the next Republican leader.
Multiple sources confirm Cornyn, Thune, Barrasso courting conservative Scott votes to back them in anticipated leadership contest.
— Ben Domenech (@bdomenech) April 13, 2023
McConnell has been absent since a major fall and concussion at SLF event at Waldorf Astoria. Senate staff openly questioning whether he will ever return.
— Ben Domenech (@bdomenech) April 13, 2023