Republicans need to pick up only one seat in next year’s midterms to win back the majority, but the GOP could be mired in a protracted civil war over the former president’s role in the party.
Republicans are starting their life in the Senate minoritymired in a civil war over the future of the GOP and former President Donald Trump’s role in the party.
Trump’s scathing attack on Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell Tuesday exposed rifts that could dash the GOP’s hopes of retaking the Senate in 2022 if they are allowed to fester. Some in McConnell’s orbit already blame Trump for losing the majority in Georgia last month. Now, the GOP leader has to hold together a fractured conference and guide Senate candidates through difficult primaries while holding onto seats in states Trump lost last year.
With McConnell castigating Trump over the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and Trump firing back in personal terms, Senate Republicans have reacted by trying to defuse the situation — a sign of recognition that they need Trump loyalists and more traditional Republican voters to stick together for future success.
Following Trump’s call for Republicans to move on from McConnell, POLITICO on Wednesday reached out to all 16 Republican senators running for reelection in 2022 to ask if they supported the Kentuckian as majority leader. Only two responded.
“Leader McConnell has my full support and confidence,” Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), the No. 2 Senate Republican who drew Trump’s ire and a primary threat after condemning the then-president’s refusal to accept the election results, said in a statement to POLITICO. “No one understands the Senate better than he does.”
Other Republicans, meanwhile, spent Wednesday decrying the conflict Trump had stoked the day before but did not criticize the former president, instead emphasizing his role in the GOP.
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/02/17/trump-mcconnell-senate-469692