What we know about Mitch McConnell’s health and his future in the Senate ( www.vox.com )
McConnell’s term is up in 2027, and he’s ensured that if he were to retire before then, anyone who replaces him would have to be a Republican. In 2021, he pushed for the passage of a new law in Kentucky that requires the governor to appoint a Senate replacement from the same party as the previous senator and from a list of names provided by the state party. That means that even though Kentucky’s governor is a Democrat, should McConnell retire, it wouldn’t change the balance of power in the Senate.
Then there’s the question of who would replace him as the party’s leader in the Senate. Cornyn, Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY), and Sen. John Thune (R-SD) are seen are possible contenders to be McConnell’s successor. All three have at times sought to keep their distance from former President Donald Trump.
Cornyn, formerly McConnell’s whip and head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, has likened his relationship with Trump to a bad marriage (even though he has cast votes supporting Trump’s agenda 95 percent of the time.)
Thune, McConnell’s current deputy, has endorsed South Carolina Republican Sen. Tim Scott for president over Trump. That made him the highest-ranking Republican to break with Trump in the 2024 contest.
And Barrasso, the third highest-ranking Republican as chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, has cast doubt on Trump’s legal defense in the face of a federal indictment for retaining classified documents after he left office. But he’s also sided with the former president; for example, by refusing to condemn Trump’s remarks defending January 6 rioters who sought to “hang” former Vice President Mike Pence.
