WASHINGTON, D.C. (LifeSiteNews) – Florida Senator Rick Scott lost his challenge this morning to Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell for the role of minority leader in the U.S. Senate.
“McConnell won the leadership vote 37-10-1, according to two senators. One senator voted present,” CNN reported. “Senate Republican Conference chairman, Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming formally announced the slate of GOP leadership positions following the elections, including that Republican Sen. John Thune would continue as whip.”
The challenge came after Republicans underperformed on Election Day. “Sen. Rick Scott announced a challenge to Mitch McConnell in a closed-door party lunch on Tuesday afternoon, the first such opposition for the Senate GOP leader in 15 years at the helm,” Politico reported.
Some have criticized McConnell’s political action committee for supporting pro-abortion Alaska Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski in her race against Republican Kelly Tshibaka instead of supporting Arizona Republican Blake Masters, a pro-life candidate who was hoping to defeat pro-abortion Democrat Mark Kelly.
There’s plenty of blame and Monday morning quarterbacking to go around for this midterm- but Mitch McConnell pulling millions from Blake Masters? Spending millions *against* Tshibaka? Inexcusable. No defense of it is even possible.
Mitch has gotta go.
— Buck Sexton (@BuckSexton) November 11, 2022
Blake Masters’ race is probably going to be decided by less than 30,000 votes and Mitch McConnell decided to spend $9M in Alaska to help a pro-abortion Republican beat an America First Republican for no other reason than Blake said he wouldn’t support him for majority leader. https://t.co/x3hrud9pi7
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) November 11, 2022
Politico reported:
Senate Republicans spent roughly three hours on Tuesday venting to each other about the party’s poor performance in the midterms, an unusually long meeting that exposed deep frustrations about the conference’s inability to capitalize on President Joe Biden’s middling popularity and rising inflation. Republicans failed to flip any Democratic seats and are consigned to the minority for two more years, prompting some GOP senators to loudly complain in the private lunch that their lack of a unified agenda cost the party.
However, Senator Scott also faces criticism for not electing enough Republicans. He chaired the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which is tasked with electing Republican senators.
Both McConnell and Scott are pro-life. McConnell has received praise from pro-life and other conservative groups for blocking the confirmation of Merrick Garland to an open Supreme Court seat in 2016 after the death of Justice Antonin Scalia.
That, along with McConnell’s other efforts to prevent President Barack Obama from appointing federal judges, allowed former President Donald Trump to move the judiciary in a conservative direction.