Senate leader Mitch McConnell focuses on retaking the majority by 2022, saying he would support Republican primary candidates based on their eligibility, even if it meant opposing Trump-backed rivals, he revealed in a new interview .
“My goal is, in every possible way, to have nominees representing the Republican Party who can win them in November. Some of them could be people the former president likes. Some of them may not be. All I care about is eligibility, ”the top Republican official told Politico in a phone interview over the weekend.
However, the Kentucky senator further warned that this did not mean he intended to naturally oppose Trump-backed candidates.
“I don’t predict the president would support people who couldn’t win. But I think eligibility – not who supports whom – is the critical point, ”he argued.
The Senate is split 50-50 between Republicans and Democrats, although Vice President Kamala Harris has a tie, giving the left a one-vote advantage.
Despite being now in the minority, McConnell expressed confidence about the race ahead.
“The difference between now and 2009 is the difference between 40 and 50. I was there in 2009. I know what it looks like after you got beat up. We are not beaten up. We’ve lost the White House. “
When asked if he would be in opposition if former President Trump sought the White House again in 2024, McConnell declined to answer, simply saying, “I’m focused on ’22.”
The Kentucky Republican voted to acquit the former president in last week’s Senate impeachment process.
Still, he argued that Trump bore moral responsibility for the siege of the Capitol last month that drove him off in the House of Representatives.
“President Trump is constitutionally ineligible for conviction” as a result of already leaving office, but that “there is no doubt – none at all – that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of that day. he said in the Senate. floor.