McConnell brushes aside leadership challenge

Mitch McConnell fended off a challenge to his leadership of Senate Republicans yesterday, beating back a long-shot provocation from Senator Rick Scott of Florida, who commanded the party’s campaign committee this cycle. McConnell was reelected Republican leader by a majority of his 49 colleagues after a failed attempt by a group of senators to delay the vote until after Georgia’s Senate runoff election on December 6. The motion to delay the vote for Republican leader gained just 16 votes; Scott’s bid against McConnell netted even fewer votes, just 10. In the week since the midterm elections, anguished Republicans from all corners of the party have been assigning blame to the disappointing outcome.