Senator Mitch McConnell, the Kentucky Republican and majority chief recognized for his take-no-prisoners techniques, was elected to a seventh time
Senator Mitch McConnell, the Kentucky Republican and majority chief recognized for his take-no-prisoners techniques, was elected to a seventh time period Tuesday, defeating Amy McGrath, a Democrat who struggled to achieve floor regardless of an outpouring of economic assist from her social gathering’s supporters across the nation.
Mr. McConnell campaigned again house on how he had used his place as probably the most highly effective figures in Washington to ship advantages for Kentucky — a constant theme over his a long time within the Senate — and portrayed Ms. McGrath as too liberal and inexperienced for the conservative state.
“I give Kentucky the chance to punch above its weight and convey house large wins we’d not in any other case get if we had a rookie senator,” Mr. McConnell stated in an announcement within the closing days of his marketing campaign, noting that he had “steered” greater than $17 billion to Kentucky initiatives since his final election.
His victory, as known as by The Related Press, got here as Mr. McConnell fought to maintain the title of majority chief, which has been underneath menace as Democrats push to assert management of the Senate in aggressive races across the nation.
Due to his fierce resistance to Democratic priorities because the Obama administration, Mr. McConnell had turn into a number one goal of Democratic wrath, amplified anew in latest days as he pushed by way of the Supreme Court docket affirmation of Justice Amy Coney Barrett only a week earlier than the election. It adopted his determination to dam President Barack Obama from placing Decide Merrick B. Garland on the court docket months earlier than the election in 2016, when he stated voters ought to resolve who crammed the emptiness.
Ms. McGrath, a former Marine fight pilot, assailed Mr. McConnell for specializing in exerting his energy in Washington, arguing that it got here on the expense of taking good care of Kentuckians, and for failing to ship a pandemic aid package deal earlier than Congress left for the election.
Regardless of elevating greater than $80 million, Ms. McGrath, who misplaced a Home election bid in 2018, trailed Mr. McConnell in polls all through the race. Some Democrats stated they believed that Charles Booker, an African-American state legislator from Louisville who misplaced the first to Ms. McGrath, would have made a stronger challenger, however defeating the bulk chief in a yr with President Trump on the poll was all the time going to be tough.
Mr. McConnell, 78, is second solely to Mr. Trump as a nemesis to Democrats. Some regard him as worse than the president, since his administration of the Senate has been essential to blocking Democratic priorities for years, after which serving to Mr. Trump obtain his objectives, notably putting in greater than 200 new federal judges, together with three on the Supreme Court docket.
With Washington in a interval of legislative gridlock, Mr. McConnell determined to emphasise confirming conservative judges because it may very well be accomplished with none votes from the Democratic minority underneath a sequence of partisan Senate guidelines adjustments since 2013. The assembly-line effort succeeded past Mr. McConnell’s expectations when he was in a position to put Justice Barrett on the court docket. Democrats have promised to hunt retribution and probably broaden the Supreme Court docket ought to they win management of the Senate.
Democrats have bested Senate Republicans in fund-raising this election, alarming some Republicans, who now say they wish to take one other have a look at fund-raising legal guidelines. These lawmakers don’t embrace Mr. McConnell, a longtime opponent of marketing campaign finance restrictions, who famous he had multiple million particular person donors this yr. He stated Republicans wanted to copy Democrats’ success.
As he tried to carry off Ms. McGrath, Mr. McConnell reminded voters that his defeat and a lack of the Senate majority could be detrimental to Kentucky.
“If elected, my opponent’s first vote would switch the bulk chief job from Kentucky to New York, placing Kentucky and our wants in the back of the road behind East Coast liberals,” Mr. McConnell stated, referring to Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the minority chief.