The office of Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky announced Wednesday afternoon that he had won the support of his colleagues to continue leading when the new Congress kicks off in January 2023 despite a last-minute challenge from NRSC Chairman Rick Scott of Florida.
Per source in the room, the vote on McConnell was
— Philip Melanchthon Wegmann (@PhilipWegmann) November 16, 2022
--37 Vote "Yes"
--10 Vote "No"
--One Vote is Present
The final vote taken by secret ballot came down 37-10 in favor of McConnell with one senator voting "present," clinching another leadership victory for the longest-serving GOP leader in the country's history.
McConnell's continuation as leader was questioned briefly following last Tuesday's midterms as a handful of his Republican colleagues called for postponing the leadership election until after the Georgia Senate runoff and Sen. Scott put his name forward to challenge McConnell. But those attempts failed as just 16 members supported a motion to delay the vote and it moved ahead as scheduled with McConnell, again, prevailing over his detractors.
McConnell's newly elected GOP leadership team includes Senators John Thune as Whip, John Barrasso as Conference Chair, Joni Ernst as Policy Chair, Shelley Moore Capito as Conference Vice Chair, and Steve Daines as NRSC Chairman.
Earlier this week, McConnell took to the Senate floor to deliver remarks welcoming new senators-elect set to join the upper chamber following their victories last Tuesday.
"Among their ranks are an all-star lawyer and leader from Alabama, the Attorney General from the great state of Missouri, the Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania, a businessman and bestselling author from Ohio, and three distinguished members of the House of Representatives," McConnell said.
"Exactly 25 years ago, in remarks welcoming the new Senate class of 1996, Senator Robert Byrd told them that service in this body is both 'a supreme honor,' 'a serious responsibility,' and 'the highest political calling in the land,'" the GOP leader added before sharing his hope that another GOP senator would be headed to Washington from Georgia after the December runoff election.
"Since President Biden took the oath of office, Georgia families have watched prices rise nearly 15 percent," McConnell noted. "They’ve shelled out hundreds of extra dollars every month just to foot the bill for the massive, reckless spending binge their two Democrat senators pushed through with deciding votes."
McConnell continued of the choice to be made by Peach State voters between now and December 6:
Needless to say, this completely avoidable Democrat Inflation Tax has put Georgia workers and small business owners in a heck of a bind.
"It’s absolutely murderous,’"one man in Columbus told reporters. "Food, gas prices. Inflation is awful."
Of course, it didn’t have to be this way.
The people of Georgia’s senators didn’t have to vote in lockstep with Washington Democrats to overheat our economy with reckless spending.
Georgia’s two Democrat senators didn’t have to vote for two trillion dollars in inflationary spending. They didn’t have to vote for hundreds of billions of dollars in left-wing climate policies.
But every single time that the hardworking people of Georgia have needed a check and balance, their Democratic Senators only gave them a rubber stamp.
When Georgians needed their Senators to stand up with independence, they just fell in line.
When asked on Wednesday whether he would step aside from leadership once he surpasses the record for longest-serving party leader in the Senate set by Montana's Michael Mansfield, McConnell quipped "I'm not going anywhere."