KENTUCKY, USA — As Sen. Mitch McConnell stood on the floor of the Republican National Convention on Monday to send all of Kentucky’s delegates to former President Donald Trump, the crowd booed the longtime senator.
The 81-year-old appeared unfazed by the reaction, but the chorus of boos highlighted the party’s growing sentiments toward the longest-serving party leader in Congress.
"Madame Chairman, the commonwealth of Kentucky proudly casts its 46 votes for the next President of the United States, Donald J. Trump,” McConnell said.
McConnell has often received strong support from a majority of the GOP during his tenure as party leader in the Senate, but the last few years have proven tough.
Amid calls from within his own party for a change of leadership, McConnell has struggled with his health – even freezing during public appearances – and has had a strained relationship with Trump in recent years.
Trump is now the GOP’s official nominee after receiving enough delegates at the RNC. The former president also announced Monday Ohio Senator J.D. Vance as his running mate in November’s election.
McConnell and Trump’s strained relationship
McConnell, a onetime critic who blamed the then-president for “disgraceful” acts during the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, made a remarkable turnaround in March when he endorsed Trump as the GOP nominee.
He was the last top GOP leader in Congress to do so.
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Trump had routinely bashed McConnell as an “Old Crow” in public, and Trump even hurled racist insults at the senator’s wife, Elaine Chao, who served as Trump’s Transportation Secretary and stepped down in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 attack — which McConnell labeled an insurrection.
Prior to that endorsement, neither had spoken to each other since 2020 when McConnell declared Joe Biden won that year’s election.
In May, when a New York jury found Trump guilty of 34 felonies, McConnell said the charges “never should have been brought in the first place," adding that he expects it to be overturned on appeal.
The two men came face-to-face last month when Trump visited Senate Republicans on Capitol Hill where they shook hands and exchanged pleasantries, according to the Associated Press.
In February, McConnell announced he would be stepping down as the party’s senate leader this November. He will serve out the remainder of his term, however, through January 2027.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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