Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer was down and out. But he’s hatched a secret plan to save his political career.
And now Schumer is grinning ear to ear over flipping this Republican U.S. Senate seat.
Last week, Washington, D.C. was in pandemonium over the Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) once again freezing up in front of cameras, leaving many concerned about his overall health.
This was the second time in just a few short weeks that this exact incident happened to Mitch McConnell as well, which is what made everyone truly believe that he may not be in good enough shape anymore to fulfill his duties.
Since then, conservative Republicans like Marjorie Taylor Greene have called for McConnell to step down, at least as the Republican Senate Minority Leader, but also as a sitting U.S. Senator.
The McConnell team has since said that McConnell’s doctor believes he is fine and has cleared him for his work in the Senate, but that doesn’t really change what everyone saw as the 81 year old froze in front of the camera for all to see.
The reason why Republicans want McConnell to step down is because of a law from the state of Kentucky that would require the Governor of Kentucky to nominate someone of the same party as the individual prior to the vacancy.
The Seventeenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution gives the state Governor the right to replace the vacant seat with a new member of Congress, but in some states the seat does not have to stay with the same party that it belonged to before the vacancy.
That’s not the case in Kentucky. Kentucky has a state law that requires the three nominees put up for the vacant U.S. Senate seat to be of the same party as before, no questions asked.
Which is what makes the Democrat Governor of Kentucky a critical piece of this puzzle. He’s recently been asked about what he would do in the event that McConnell is forced to step down and leaves a vacancy.
Governor Beshear’s answer is concerning, to say the least. Beshear would not confirm whether he would obey the law and put up nominees that were Republican since McConnell is a sitting Republican senator.
His answer was simply that there’s “no Senate vacancy,” so he dodged the question altogether. Seemingly to hide something.
“There is no Senate vacancy,” Beshear said during a press conference. “Senator McConnell has said he’s going to serve out his term, and I believe him, so I’m not going to speculate about something that hasn’t happened and isn’t going to happen,” he continued.
He was even asked to be more clear about whether he would obey the Kentucky law to nominate Republicans to replace a possible McConnell seat vacancy, and he simply said that he wouldn’t “sensationalize” McConnell’s health status.
That’s a non-answer if you’ve ever heard one, that’s for sure. Which makes you wonder what these high-profile Democrats like Beshear and the Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) are up to.
Could they be hiding their hand right now in the hopes that McConnell will step down and leave a vacancy so that they can skirt Kentucky law and install a Democrat Senator in the upper chamber of Congress?
McConnell’s term lasts until the year 2026, so they’ve still got a ways to go before that seat is even up for an election cycle at all.
Which makes it all the more likely that McConnell will step down at some point. It’s almost impossible to imagine he makes it all the way until January of 2027 when the next Senator would be inaugurated.
So this idea that answering a very real question about a very real hypothetical involving a McConnell vacancy is “sensationalizing,” is nonsense. It’s dealing with a matter that is important. Beshear’s refusal to answer the question speaks volume.
Don’t be surprised if Chuck Schumer and his Democrat lackeys look for a way to install one of their radical Democrats into the Senate should McConnell need to step away from his position.
Stay tuned to the DC Daily Journal.
