On paper, Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., should be the most influential Republican officeholder in the country. He’s speaker of the House, the most powerful member of the most powerful branch of government, and third in line for the presidency. His majority may be small and raucous, but it’s a majority nonetheless — and no smaller than the majority with which former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., secured a variety of sweeping legislative achievements.
And yet, if you had to trade places with one Republican in congressional leadership, few would likely prefer McCarthy’s position over Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s. Leadership has its privileges, including influence over those who would challenge leadership. Where McCarthy has surrendered much of that authority, McConnell is exercising it with gusto.
McConnell, R-Ky., is not exactly beloved by much of the Republican Party’s primary electorate. For all his conservative achievements and his effective efforts to frustrate Democratic ambitions, he has been cast in many Republican minds as unwilling to “fight” for one cause or another. After the 2022 midterms, that dynamic convinced some Republican senators that they could dislodge McConnell from his perch. They lunged at the king and missed. McConnell easily defeated Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., and was re-elected as Senate GOP leader.
Unlike McCarthy, McConnell has reserved the right to extract his revenge — and it seems he’s inclined to settle all family business. On Feb. 1, reporters learned that Scott and Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, were removed — rather, “kicked off,” in Scott’s words — from their seats on the influential Senate Commerce Committee. Scott insists his defenestration is payback for his attempt to oust McConnell from leadership, a bid Lee supported.
For his part, McConnell has made only perfunctory efforts to disguise his contempt for the Florida senator, who claims he was informed of his unceremonious ouster via text message….
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