Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) indicated that he will support former President Donald Trump in the upcoming election, arguing that it is who voters desire to be the Republican Party’s nominee.
McConnell’s statement comes as Trump is the Republican Party’s presumptive nominee for the 2024 presidential election, with the minority leader falling back on his previous statement in 2021 that he would support the nominee. The Kentucky senator has greatly criticized Trump in the past, claiming in February 2021 that Trump was “practically and morally responsible” for the Capitol protest on January 6.
“Well the answer is the Republican voters of this country have spoken,” McConnell told Meet the Press. “They get to pick nominees for president. So, how I’m spending my time is on something I can have an impact on, which is making sure my successor is the majority leader and not the minority leader.”
Despite his criticism in February 2021, McConnell voted not to impeach Trump in his second impeachment vote. The senator defended that decision, explaining that Trump “was not president anymore at that point.” He reiterated that he still stands by his past criticism, though recognizing that there was a “big debate” over whether someone who is no longer in office could still be impeached.
McConnell endorsed Trump on March 6, the same day former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley suspended her 2024 presidential campaign. Trump himself thanked McConnell for the endorsement via a Truth Social post, adding that he was looking forward to working with a Republican Senate majority should he return to the White House.
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Trump also picked up the endorsement of former Attorney General Bill Barr, who stressed the need for Republicans to return to a position of leadership in the country. Like McConnell, Barr has been a critic of Trump, though he has argued that the former president is better equipped to handle the multitude of problems facing the United States than President Joe Biden.
Recent polling data from the past week showed Trump having a lead over Biden in six of seven swing states, including Pennsylvania, Arizona, Nevada, North Carolina, Georgia, and Wisconsin. In the last of these swing states, Biden led Trump by just one point.
