The new US Congress will convene in Washington, DC on January 3rd. But for the first time in 18 years, a key Republican leader, Sen. Mitch McConnell, will no longer be at the helm.
Since 2007, Mr. McConnell has served as Senate Republican leader, guiding members of his caucus through four different presidencies and countless legislative hurdles.
Experts say the Senate’s longest-serving leader’s tenure will ultimately be remembered as a turning point for the Republican Party and Congress as a whole.
Under McConnell, American politics has moved away from the backbenchers and consensus builders of an earlier era. Instead, McConnell ushered in an era of norm-shattering bipartisan politics, paving the way for figures like President-elect Donald Trump, leader of the Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement.
“First and foremost, he expanded the minority’s tendency to obstruction in the Senate,” Stephen S. Smith, professor emeritus of political science at Washington University in St. Louis, told Al Jazeera.
Smith pointed out that McConnell led the Republican majority in only six of the 18 years he served as Senate majority leader. The remainder of his term was spent mobilizing the minority in the 100-member Senate to disrupt the policies of rival Democrats.
“Second, he will be known for deepening partisan polarization in the Senate,” Smith said. “Mr. McConnell was neither a conservative nor a MAGA extremist by today’s standards, but he was a deeply partisan leader.”
Despite his dedication to the Republican Party, some see Mr. McConnell as a potential bulwark against figures like Mr. Trump, with whom he has clashed in the past.
McConnell is stepping down as party leader but plans to remain in the Senate for the remainder of his six-year term. However, it remains to be seen to what extent McConnell will play a role in checking President Trump’s ambitious second-term policies.
“I would be very surprised if he were to be provocative in public. His influence is going underground,” said Al, a veteran reporter and columnist who covered Mr. McConnell’s tenure. Cross told Al Jazeera.
“I usually play the villain.”
Mr. McConnell has had a long and storied career in the Senate. In 1984, he first ran for a House seat, ousting an incumbent Democratic congressman.
He has remained undefeated ever since. In 2020, he was elected for a seventh consecutive term.
He rose to the top of the Senate without much opposition. The position became vacant in 2007 when former Senate Republican leader Bill Frist retired.
But from his first days as Senate majority leader, Mr. McConnell developed a reputation as a hardliner and obstructionist.
In his first year as Republican leader, the New York Times reported that he acted with “nearly robotic efficiency” to crush Democratic policies, even though he led the minority in the Senate. He praised it.
“Mr. McConnell and his fellow Republicans are running a very tight defense, blocking nearly every bill proposed by the Democratic minority, so they can increasingly dictate what they want. ” wrote reporter David Hasenhorn.
McConnell quickly embraced his reputation as a partisan warrior, establishing himself as a self-proclaimed “Grim Reaper” of progressive proposals.
One editorial column earned him the nickname “Senator No” for his refusal to work across the aisle. McConnell himself once greeted reporters by saying, “Darth Vader has arrived.”
“For 30 years in the United States Senate, I have been the talk of many people,” McConnell wrote at the beginning of his 2016 memoir. “I usually play the villain.”
Smith, a professor at the University of Washington, said McConnell’s hardline approach has led to a “transformation” in the Senate.
Before McConnell’s leadership, Smith said the Senate saw only “occasional minority obstruction.” But the chamber has since become known in political circles as the “60-vote Senate.”
The nickname comes from the 60 votes needed to overcome minority obstruction, known as the filibuster.
Under McConnell, Smith explained, “any time you try to act on a major bill, you face minority obstruction and you need 60 votes to kill it.”
bend the norm
One of McConnell’s most divisive moments was the death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia in 2016.
Normally, if a judge dies, the sitting president has the right to appoint a successor. But Scalia’s death came 11 months before a pivotal presidential election. The president at the time, Democrat Barack Obama, was nearing the end of his final term.
McConnell made a surprising and quick political gamble. Within hours of Mr. Scalia’s death, Republican leaders announced they would refuse to vote to confirm Mr. Obama’s chosen replacement.
“The American people should have a say in choosing their next Supreme Court justice, so this vacancy should not be filled until a new president is in place,” McConnell said in a statement.
Left-wing publications such as The Nation denounced McConnell’s decision as an attack on the U.S. Constitution. “This refusal exploded the norm,” journalist Alec McGillis wrote in the publication ProPublica.
But McConnell’s maneuver changed the balance of power on the court for generations to come.
In November of that year, American voters elected political newcomer Trump to his first term in the White House, setting the stage for further changes in Washington norms.
President Trump ultimately nominated three right-wing justices to the Supreme Court, including Scalia’s successor. This solidifies a conservative supermajority on the court that is expected to shape American law for generations to come.
Trump later praised McConnell as an “ace in the hole” and a “partner.”
In a forwarded statement to McConnell’s memoir, President Trump said, “Judges enjoy lifetime tenure, so I want to remind you, like me, that the impact of a judicial nomination can be felt for more than 30 years.” Mr. Mitch was also aware of this.” “Reforming the federal judiciary is the ultimate long-term battle!”
Conflict with President Trump
But with a bold new Trump administration in 2025, McConnell has increasingly spoken out against the president-elect and his isolationist “America First” platform.
The two Republican leaders have repeatedly clashed, and relations between the two have significantly cooled.
President Trump has publicly called McConnell an “old crow” and disparaged his “China-loving wife” Elaine Chao, slapping her Asian heritage.
McConnell, meanwhile, countered with his own combative language, alluding to similarities between Trump and 1930s isolationism.
“We are in a very dangerous world right now, reminiscent of before World War II,” McConnell told the Financial Times in December. “The slogan is the same: ‘America First.’ That’s what they said in the 30’s. ”
McConnell is expected to step down from his leadership post in January to become chairman of the Senate Defense Appropriations subcommittee.
The new position will likely advocate strengthening the U.S. military to counter threats from adversaries such as Russia, Iran and China.
However, at 82 years old and suffering from health problems, including a recent fall, experts say McConnell is unlikely to offer much resistance to the incoming Trump administration.
“Given Sen. McConnell’s loss of leadership and his physical frailty, I don’t expect much continued opposition from him,” Harvard political scientist Daniel Ziblatt told Al Jazeera. spoke.
“It’s possible he could vote no here and there and make a difference. But I wouldn’t hold my breath looking at his track record.”
There is no greater institutionalist.
Still, Herbert Weisberg, a political science professor at Ohio State University, said McConnell has occasionally played the role of an opponent, especially as the Senate considers some of the more controversial candidates for senior government positions. I expect it to be possible.
“He typically wants to defer to Republican presidents on appointments, but will be wary of the unusual Trump nominee. He may be willing to vote against a few, but not all. ” Weisberg told Al Jazeera.
Already a childhood polio survivor, McConnell has publicly told incoming administration officials to “avoid” efforts to “undermine public confidence” in “proven treatments” to avoid disrupting Senate confirmation hearings. is issuing a warning.
The statement came shortly after it was reported in the New York Times that President Trump’s health nominee, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., was involved in an effort to deauthorize the polio vaccine.
But as U.S. politics, government and trade analyst Stephen Okun points out, it’s unlikely that a single Republican will block the nomination or passage of the bill.
Republicans hold a 53-member majority in the next Senate. And many within the party firmly support President Trump’s leadership.
Assuming the Democratic opposition unites, “it would take four Republican senators to block a future President Trump’s proposal from the Senate,” Okun explained.
Okun added that McConnell is unlikely to take on an opposition role. “Only if Donald Trump pursues the most aggressive actions that are contrary to U.S. interests,” he added.
After all, party loyalty was a key tenet of McConnell’s leadership. And experts like journalist Cross think McConnell won’t want to miss the chance to use the Senate’s power to shape presidential policy.
“I can’t think of a greater institutionalist than Mitch McConnell,” Cross said. “He loves the Senate and that’s what he wants. He doesn’t want to give up the advice and consent role.”
