McConnell reveals failed attempt to lure key senator from Democrats: ‘We’d love to have her’
Samantha-Jo Roth
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Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said he doesn’t believe Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) will join the Republican conference after she left the Democratic Party last year.
McConnell said the Senate GOP was unable to bring Sinema into the fold.
MCCONNELL FEARS REPUBLICANS COULD ‘SCREW THIS UP’ AND LOSE THE SENATE IN 2024
“I think that decision was made when she ended up continuing to caucus with the Democrats,” McConnell said in an interview with CNN, when he was asked whether he was attempting to recruit the Arizona independent. “We would love to have had her, but we didn’t land her.”
The Kentucky Republican is working to avoid repeating the mistakes of the 2022 midterm election cycle when a favorable political environment did not transfer at the ballot box, and Republicans lost a seat, resulting in a 51-49 Senate Democratic majority. McConnell recently landed a major recruit in West Virginia after Gov. Jim Justice (R-WV) jumped into the race for Sen. Joe Manchin’s (D-WV) seat in West Virginia. He’s also working to recruit candidates in Pennsylvania and Montana.
The Senate Republican leader emphasized that Republicans will likely wait to see what happens in the primary in Arizona before they decide to engage.
The landscape in the Grand Canyon State is growing extremely unpredictable in what is expected to be a three-way race for the general election seat held by Sinema. Progressives are supporting Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), who announced he’s running as a Democrat. Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb became the first Republican to enter the race last month.
Former Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake is considering running. Republican Blake Masters, who lost his Senate bid last year by 5 percentage points, is still considering a run. So is Abe Hamadeh, who lost the 2022 attorney general’s race, Karrin Taylor Robson, who lost the gubernatorial primary to Lake last year, and Republican businessman Jim Lamon, who lost in the primary for Arizona’s other Senate seat in 2022.
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McConnell, who has been working for months to recruit candidates to run in key Senate races, admitted he’s not confident Republicans will take back the majority next year despite a favorable map and the need to gain only one or two seats.
“No, no — I’m not,” McConnell said when asked if Republicans felt confident about retaking the chamber next year. “I just spent 10 minutes explaining to you how we could screw this up, and we’re working very hard to not let that happen. Let’s put it that way.”