Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) in his surprise announcement that he would vacate his leadership role in November, said, "I have many faults. Misunderstanding politics is not one of them." McConnell has seen that the many compromises he has achieved in recent weeks over border security and foreign aid in the Senate are for naught when it comes to getting legislation through the House of Representatives. He's done.
Starting his Senate career some four decades ago in the Reagan administration, McConnell has seen a lot of things that are all but impossible in today's Congress. He saw a time when budget hawks like Sen. Pete Domenici and Rep. Manuel Luján actually stood for responsible government spending. He observed GOP Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole regularly cut deals with Democrat Speaker of the House Tip O'Neill and vice versa to further the interests of the nation rather than serve personal fundraising agendas. He saw a Congress united against the global threat of Soviet domination and willing to stand up to the Kremlin.
Building on these lessons, this year McConnell has pulled out bipartisan legislative package after bipartisan legislative package to get a border deal done, and aid for Ukraine across the finish line. Every time, the House GOP blows it up.
How much has changed since McConnell was a freshman senator. Technology and social media have amplified and accelerated polarization and self-interest. Instead of working toward compromise with respectful dialogue, it's much more common for members of Congress to have staffers capturing video of them making a provocative statement in committee or on the floor and immediately tweeting it out with a fundraising pitch.
McConnell even saw former President Reagan accompanied by his former press secretary James Brady, severely wounded in the 1980 assassination attempt on the President, lobby Congress in support of the Brady Bill – a ban on assault weapons. It passed. That is certainly unthinkable today.
On February 27, Congressional leadership was summoned to the White House to discuss the looming partial government shutdown deadlines on March 1 and March 8, with a secondary topic of funding for Ukraine. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York, McConnell, President Biden and Vice President Harris all put pressure on Speaker of the House Mike Johnson of Louisiana to turn a deaf ear to the Freedom Caucus and do whatever is necessary to avoid a shutdown.
The group also encouraged Johnson to garner GOP caucus support for a Senate-approved foreign aid package that includes $60 billion for Ukraine. Ukraine just entered its third year of war against Russia, who has recently announced a massive military buildup, including greater troop strength and the development of a nuclear space weapon intended to take out satellites.
(This is taking place against the Russian propaganda backdrop of Tucker Carlson's recent interview of Vladimir Putin that read just like the naïve interviews of guileless American socialists who went on state-sponsored tours of Stalin's Soviet Union 90 years ago and sent back reports of a workers' paradise. At the time, Ukraine was starving under a state-sponsored famine.)
I listened to live White House coverage on the radio while the meeting was taking place while driving home from Las Cruces. McConnell left the White House meeting early. Just a day later, McConnell announced his decision to vacate his leadership position (he will serve out his remaining Senate term through 2026).
I can't help but wonder if watching Speaker Johnson in that meeting, McConnell realized he was wasting his time bringing bipartisan deals to the House GOP. Jeffries, upon hearing of McConnell's announcement, opined that vacating the seat would allow him to advocate more aggressively for aid for Ukraine. That is a laudable purpose.
Speaker Johnson has no easy road on any of these issues, facing removal from his leadership role at every turn thanks to the rule change passed in 2023 that brought about the fall of his predecessor. Former President Donald Trump is whipping Johnson's caucus on the border and Ukraine issues to suit his own agenda with implied threats to members' re-election bids on the table at all times.
This strategy on the border issue may be about to backfire. The White House is signaling that new border security measures, including funding, may be handled by executive order. Considering that Trump directed the GOP House to delay action on the border so the Biden administration would not get credit for addressing what has become a key campaign issue, this would the worst possible outcome.
McConnell's withdrawal from leadership clears the way for a Senator representing the new GOP to take the role. I'd like to see someone who demonstrates composure and decorum fitting the chamber like Marco Rubio of Florida step into the role. There are other members of GOP Senate leadership like John Barrasso of Wyoming, John Thune of South Dakota, or Joni Ernst of Iowa who are likely candidates. The headline-grabbing darlings of Fox News and the like, like JD Vance of Ohio, track star Josh Hawley of Missouri and Texas' own Ted Cruz are too polarizing among their own conference to be credible candidates.
I didn't always agree with McConnell, but I give him all credit for his pragmatism and resilience in the face of a Republican Party that has morphed from "a shining city on a hill," to "compassionate conservatism," to "If you go after me, I'm coming after you!"
2024 Republican primary voters in exit polls are listing as their top priority, not the border, not the economy, but "someone who will fight for me." McConnell does not misunderstand politics. The priority in Congress, particularly the GOP House, is not the border, not the economy, but who shouts the loudest. McConnell will serve out his term, but after 2026, he will join Mitt Romney, Jeff Flake, Bob Corker, Ben Sasse, Pat Toomey, John Kyl, Paul Ryan and a host of others since 2016 who became fed up with the noise and left public office.
Merritt Hamilton Allen is a PR executive and former Navy officer. She appeared regularly as a panelist on NM PBS and is a frequent guest on News Radio KKOB. A Republican, she lives amicably with her Democratic husband north of I-40 where they run one head of dog, and two of cat. She can be reached at
