McConnell will step down as the Senate Republican leader in November after a record run in the job

[Geee]

AP

WASHINGTON (AP) — Mitch McConnell, the longest-serving Senate leader in history who maintained his power in the face of dramatic convulsions in the Republican Party for almost two decades, will step down from that position in November.

McConnell, who turned 82 last week, was set to announce his decision Wednesday in the well of the Senate, a place where he looked in awe from its back benches in 1985 when he arrived and where he grew increasingly comfortable in the front row seat afforded the party leaders.

“One of life’s most underappreciated talents is to know when it’s time to move on to life’s next chapter,” he said in prepared remarks obtained by The Associated Press. “So I stand before you today ... to say that this will be my last term as Republican leader of the Senate.”

[Valin]

4 hours ago, Geee said:

AP

WASHINGTON (AP) — Mitch McConnell, the longest-serving Senate leader in history who maintained his power in the face of dramatic convulsions in the Republican Party for almost two decades, will step down from that position in November.

McConnell, who turned 82 last week, was set to announce his decision Wednesday in the well of the Senate, a place where he looked in awe from its back benches in 1985 when he arrived and where he grew increasingly comfortable in the front row seat afforded the party leaders.

“One of life’s most underappreciated talents is to know when it’s time to move on to life’s next chapter,” he said in prepared remarks obtained by The Associated Press. “So I stand before you today ... to say that this will be my last term as Republican leader of the Senate.”

This MAY (probably will)get me in trouble with many on The Right (not that I give a damn) but He will be missed. The Most Conservative Majority/Minority leader of The Senate in modern times.  

[Geee]

All eyes on possible McConnell successors after announcement he will step down

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-KY) decision to step down from his leadership role at the end of this term has shifted the spotlight to his possible successors. 

McConnell, the longest-serving Senate leader of all time, announced on Wednesday that this Congress would be his last as head of the GOP conference. The news sparked renewed interest in his potential successors, of which there are currently three leading candidates: Senate Minority Whip John Thune (R-SD), Senate Republican Conference Chairman John Barrasso (R-WY), and Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX). 

The trio of possible Republican leaders, described around Washington as the “Three Johns” due to their shared moniker, are all members of McConnell’s leadership team. Cornyn was term-limited out of his role as whip, with Thune succeeding him, but has remained a key McConnell adviser and ally. 

It’s not clear if any other members of the conference will step forward to try and take on McConnell’s mantle.

Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL), who mounted a challenge to McConnell’s leadership last year, has not said if he plans to launch a bid to be the top Republican leader but said McConnell’s decision is an “opportunity to refocus” efforts as a party to “solving the significant challenges facing our country and actually reflect the aspirations of voters.”

And while none of the Johns have announced their intentions to seek McConnell’s role, jockeying for the top job has already begun behind the scenes.

Cornyn, one of the Senate’s leading fundraisers, told reporters on Wednesday afternoon, “I think today is about Mitch McConnell, but I’ve made no secret about my intentions.”

[Geee]

How Much Is Sen. Mitch McConnell Worth?\

At 79, Mitch McConnell, the longest-serving Republican leader in Senate history, holds one of the top positions in his party and the U.S. government. He also sits atop a multimillion-dollar fortune, thanks to his wife, former cabinet secretary Elaine Chao, and the well-timed investing of a small inheritance he and his wife received soon after his mother-in-law died in 2007. Today, McConnell and Chao—who own homes in Louisville, Kentucky, and Washington, D.C., along with a large portfolio of stocks, bonds and money market funds—are worth an estimated $30 million. 

The great-grandson of a Confederate soldier and son of a World War II veteran who later worked for DuPont, McConnell wasn’t born wealthy. As a young boy in the Deep South, he contracted polio. “I recovered, but my family almost went broke,” McConnell said in a 1990 campaign ad. His family moved to Kentucky when he was 13, according to his memoir, The Long Game, and McConnell stayed in the state for college and law school. He snagged his first job in D.C. in 1968, working as the chief legislative assistant to Kentucky Sen. Marlow Cook. The work paid $17,000 a year, or about $130,000 in today’s dollars. Sixteen years later, in 1984, McConnell won his own Senate seat, guaranteeing him a steady, upper middle-class salary. He has stayed there now for more than 35 years and, as minority leader, earns $193,400 today. (He and Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer make the same, while all other senators pull in $174,000).

[Geee]

How the Supreme Court is Mitch McConnell’s greatest and most controversial legacy

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is ending his 17-year reign as GOP leader in the upper chamber of Congress, but his legacy as leader has shaped another branch of the federal government — the Supreme Court.

During his six years as majority leader, the Kentucky Republican is best remembered for how he chose to confirm or deny appointees to the Supreme Court, but McConnell’s defining accomplishment began in 2013 with a warning to then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV): “You’ll regret this, and you may regret this a lot sooner than you think.”

Reid was moving to dissolve the filibuster for judicial nominations — with a carveout for Supreme Court nominations — after frustrations over Republicans blocking then-President Barack Obama’s judicial nominees. McConnell and the Senate GOP, then in the minority, opposed the move. Nearly a year after Reid blew up the judicial filibuster, Republicans took control of the Senate, and McConnell would later take Reid’s actions to “its logical conclusion” by eliminating the cutout for the Supreme Court.

[Valin]

48 minutes ago, Geee said:

How the Supreme Court is Mitch McConnell’s greatest and most controversial legacy

Controversial Translation: When A Republican is Right.

[Geee]

Texas Senator Throws Hat in the Ring To Replace McConnell as GOP Leader

Texas senator John Cornyn on Thursday announced his intentions to run to replace Sen. Mitch McConnell (Ky.) as the Republican leader in Congress's upper chamber.

[Valin]