The Senate voted to keep McConnell as their leader.
McConnell defeated the challenge from Rick Scott, who chairs the National Republican Senatorial Committee. During his time as GOP leader, McConnell had never faced a challenger.
McConnell welcomed the contest after Scott said he was running.
Scott received 10 votes and McConnell got 37.
Several senators made their vote public after the vote was held behind closed doors.
He said he voted for change. The results of the conference were accepted by me and I hope we can be better.
He elaborated on his thoughts on the social networking site.
Graham wished McConnell good luck as Senate Minority Leader. The leadership election was delayed by me. The conference would have been better off if the vote had been delayed. I voted for change.
—Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) November 16, 2022
Several Republicans, including Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, wanted to delay the vote until after the Georgia election.
Braun told congressional reporters that he was tired of being cut out of important policy talks. While Scott was still talking to the GOP caucus, Braun said he wanted to feel part of the process.
Scott said after the Senate leadership vote that he had been frustrated by the broken status quo in Washington.
"Although the results of today's elections weren't what we wanted, this is not the end of our fight to make Washington work," he said.
Republican colleagues of Scott and McConnell said during the closed-door hearing that the two men were arguing.
Scott disagrees with the approach thatMitch has taken in this election and for the last couple of years, and he made that clear.
Scott wanted Republicans to release an agenda that would show voters how Republicans planned to deliver for them if they won the election. Scott released a plan that the president bashed during speeches.
McConnell blamed "candidate quality" as a factor in why the party lost the majority. The GOP results were a complete disappointment.
Scott denied rumors that he dislikes McConnell during an interview with Martha McCallum.
I don't like anyone. The senator said that he doesn't dislike people but that he has his beliefs about what he wants to accomplish up here.
If the Republicans win the Georgia election, they have a chance to gain leverage. Vice President Harris would be able to break the tie in favor of the Democrats if that happened.
McConnell told reporters that he and Thune addressed complaints from rank-and-file members who felt left out of day-to-day deliberations.
Any five of us can call a caucus to talk about anything. McConnell told reporters at the US Capitol that he thinks that will be used more often. I think it's great.
McConnell was asked if he would change his management style to show the 10 defectors that he had gotten their message.
He said there wasn't anything to negotiate.
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