Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) was reelected as leader of the Senate GOP on Monday.
McConnell and his leadership team won another two-year term.
“We’re ready to get going,” the 78-year-old Republican from Kentucky told reporters at a press conference after the vote.
He noted that “there’s some suspense about exactly whether we’ll be in the majority or not, which will be answered in Georgia on January 5th,” referring to two runoff races in Georgia. GOP Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue are trying to hold their seats in the runoff race that could potentially swing the outcome of the Senate to either party.
Aides told several news outlets that McConnell was unanimously elected. The update should be no surprise as McConnell has led the GOP in the Senate since 2007.
A Senate race in Alaska has not yet been called. One that had been uncalled in North Carolina was called for Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) on Tuesday.
When he was asked about the outcome of the presidential race between President Donald Trump and Democratic candidate Joe Biden, McConnell told reporters that Trump’s lawsuits are “no reason for alarm” and wouldn’t prevent a new administration, “if there is one,” from taking office.
“What it says about America is that until the electoral college votes, anyone who’s running for office can exhaust concerns about counting in any court of appropriate jurisdiction,” McConnell said when asked about Republicans mostly backing Trump’s efforts in court in several swing states.
“It’s not unusual. It should not be alarming. At some point here, we’ll find out, finally, who was certified in each of these states, and the electoral college will determine the winner, and that person will be sworn in on January 20th. No reason for alarm.”
McConnell also shot down anonymous reports that Trump is trying to block Biden’s transition efforts.
“I don’t think anything that’s occurred so far interrupts an ordinary process of moving through the various steps that I indicated and allowing—if there is a new administration—it to work through the transition. All of these steps will be taken at the appropriate time,” McConnell said.
Meanwhile, another member of the GOP’s leadership team, Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), suggested that Trump may have won the election.
“Virtually every predictor of what was going to happen in the elections was wrong,” Blunt remarked on Tuesday. “You know, the president wasn’t defeated by huge numbers. In fact, he may not have been defeated at all.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) was also reelected as the Senate Democratic leader.
“It is time for us to turn the page on one of the most divisive and chaotic chapters in our history, and I am looking forward to leveraging the expertise [of] our diverse caucus, working in a bipartisan fashion—but never compromising on our values—to improve the lives of American families,” Schumer said in a statement after he was reelected.
While many news outlets have called the race in favor of Biden, the Epoch Times has not yet called it for either candidate pending the outcome of legal challenges and vote-counting efforts. State legislatures and then the Electoral College are the bodies that certify a presidential election.
