Mitch McConnell’s legacy: The ‘grim reaper’ of US bipartisanship? | Political Affairs

The new United States Congress convenes in Washington, DC, on January 3. But for the first time in 18 years, an important Republican leader will no longer be the head: Senator Mitch McConnell.

Since 2007, McConnell has served as the head of the Republican Party in the Senate, guiding members of his caucus through four different presidents and numerous legislative obstacles.

Experts say his tenure as the Senate’s longest-serving leader will be remembered as a turning point for Republicans and Congress as a whole.

Under McConnell, US politics moved away from the slapstickers and consensus builders of earlier times. Instead, McConnell helped usher in an era of polarized, multi-partisan politics that paved the way for figures like incoming President Donald Trump, leader of the Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement.

“First and foremost, he added to the practice of minority vetoes in the Senate,” Steven S Smith, an emeritus professor at Washington University in St Louis, told Al Jazeera.

Smith pointed out that McConnell led the Republican majority for only six of his 18 years as Senate leader. He spent the rest of his time rallying a minority in the 100-seat Senate to thwart the Democratic Party’s rival plan.

“Secondly, he will be known for deepening racism in the Senate,” Smith said. “While McConnell was not a conservative or extreme MAGA figure by today’s standards, he was a leader with a strong side.”

Despite his commitment to the Republican Party, some see McConnell as someone who can protect people like Trump, with whom he has clashed in the past.

Although he is stepping down as party leader, McConnell intends to remain in the Senate for the remainder of his six-year term. But the extent to which McConnell will serve as a check on Trump’s ambitious second-term agenda remains to be seen.

“I would be surprised if I saw him arouse passion in society. His influence goes underground,” Al Cross, a veteran journalist and columnist covering the McConnell era, told Al Jazeera.

‘I’m used to playing the villain’

McConnell led a long and storied career in the Senate. In 1984, he made his first bid for a seat in the chamber, ousting an incumbent Democrat.

He has remained undefeated since then. In 2020, he won his seventh consecutive term.

His rise to the top of the Senate came without significant opposition. The 2007 retirement of former Senate Republican leader Bill Frist left the position vacant.

But from his early days as Senate leader, McConnell developed a reputation as tough and obstructive.

In his first year as Republican leader, the New York Times described him as working with “robot efficiency” to overturn Democratic policies, despite leading a minority in the Senate.

“Mr. McConnell and other Republicans are playing strong defense, blocking almost every piece of legislation proposed by the small Democratic majority that they can say what they want,” wrote reporter David Herszenhorn.

McConnell quickly embraced his role as the group’s hero, describing himself as the “grim reaper” with progressive proposals.

One editorial column dubbed him “Senator No” for his refusal to serve anywhere. McConnell himself once greeted reporters with, “Darth Vader has arrived.”

“In the three decades I have been a United States Senator, I have been the subject of many profiles,” McConnell wrote in the opening lines of his 2016 memoir. “I’m used to playing the villain.”

Smith, a professor at Washington University, described McConnell as causing “revolution” in the Senate because of his hardline approach.

Before McConnell’s leadership, Smith said the Senate only saw “the obstacle of a few people”. But after that, this chamber was known in political circles as “the Senate of 60 votes”.

That nickname is a reference to the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster, known as a filibuster.

Under McConnell, Smith explained, “legislation of any importance will face little hurdles and require 60 votes to close”.

Bending the rules

One of McConnell’s most divisive moments came in 2016, with the death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.

Normally, when a justice dies, the sitting president has the right to appoint a successor. But Scalia’s death came 11 months before a crucial presidential election. And the president at the time, Democrat Barack Obama, was nearing the end of his last term.

McConnell made an incredible — and quick — political gamble. A few hours after Scalia’s death, the Republican leader announced that he would not vote to confirm Obama’s successor.

“The American people should have a voice in choosing their next Supreme Court justice. Therefore, this vacancy must not be closed until we find a new president,” said McConnell in a statement.

Leftist publications such as The Nation criticized McConnell’s decision as an attack on the US Constitution. “This refusal has exploded the trend,” wrote journalist Alec MacGillis in ProPublica.

But McConnell’s gamble changed the balance of power on the court for generations to come.

In November, American voters elected Trump – a political newcomer – to his first term in the White House, setting the stage for many changes in Washington’s policies.

Trump ultimately nominated three right-wing justices to the Supreme Court, including one to replace Scalia. That solidified a large number of people on the bench, who were expected to shape US law for generations to come.

Trump later praised McConnell as “an ace in the hole” and a “partner”.

“Mitch saw, as I did, that as judges enjoy life expectancy, the impact of judicial appointments can be felt for thirty years or more,” Trump wrote in McConnell’s memoir. “To change the national judge is a long end game!”

Trump’s competition

But ahead of Trump’s new and emboldened administration in 2025, McConnell has been outspoken against the president-elect and his self-isolating “America First” platform.

The two Republican leaders have butted heads several times, and their relationship is frozen.

Trump publicly called McConnell an “old crow” and insulted his “China-loving wife” Elaine Chao, slapping her Asian heritage.

McConnell, on the other hand, disputed his fighting words, citing parallels between Trump and isolationism in the 1930s.

“We’re in a very dangerous world right now, reminiscent of pre-World War II,” McConnell told the Financial Times in December. “Even the slogan is the same. ‘America First.’ That’s what they said in the 1930s.”

When he leaves his leadership post in January, McConnell is expected to assume the role of chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense.

In his new position, he is likely to promote strengthening the US military to counter threats from adversaries such as Russia, Iran and China.

However, at age 82, with health challenges including a recent fall, experts say it is unlikely that McConnell will provide resistance to the incoming Trump administration.

“With Senator McConnell out of his leadership position and because of his physical weakness, I don’t expect much in the way of continued opposition from him,” Harvard University political scientist Daniel Ziblatt told Al Jazeera.

“It is possible that he will cast a dissenting vote here or there that could make a difference. But his record does not leave me breathless.”

No one has great institutional experience

Still, Herbert Weisberg, a political science professor at Ohio State University, expects McConnell to serve as an occasional dissenting voice, especially as the Senate evaluates some of Trump’s controversial nominees for top government positions.

“Normally he would want to withdraw from a Republican presidential nominee, but he will be keeping an eye on Trump’s unusual nominees. He may be willing to vote against a few, but not all,” Weisberg told Al Jazeera.

Already, McConnell – a childhood polio survivor – has issued a public warning to incoming administration officials to “avoid” attempts to “undermine public confidence” in “proven treatments”, lest they disrupt their Senate confirmation hearings.

The statement came shortly after Trump’s health nominee Robert F Kennedy Jr was linked to an effort to decertify the polio vaccine in The New York Times.

But a single Republican is unlikely to block the nomination or piece of legislation, as Steven Okun, a political, government and trade analyst in the US, said.

Republicans hold a 53-member majority in the incoming Senate. And many in the group strongly follow Trump’s leadership.

By taking on a united Democratic Alliance opposition, “it will take four Republican senators to stop anything that future President Trump will pass in the Senate,” explained Okun.

McConnell, added Okun, is less likely to take an oppositional role – “only when Donald Trump follows the most aggressive actions that would be against the interests of the American country”.

After all, party loyalty has been a key tenet of McConnell’s leadership. And experts like Cross, a journalist, believe that McConnell will not want to miss an opportunity to use the power of the Senate to shape the president’s policy.

“I can’t think of a greater professional than Mitch McConnell,” Cross said. “He loves the Senate, that’s what he wanted. He does not want to give up his role in counseling and consent.”