Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky., joined by his wife, former Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, celebrates with his supporters at an election night party in Louisville, Ky., on Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2014. McConnell won a sixth term in Washington, with his eyes on the larger prize of GOP control of the Senate.MORE ELECTION COVERAGE• New era for abortion in Tennessee; voters open door for more regulation• Full voter guide results• GOP takes control of Senate, ending eight-year Democratic run• Republican incumbents easily take Tennessee’s 3rd, 4th districts• Hamilton County cities vote to allow wine in grocery stores• Republicans Gov. Nathan Deal, David Perdue win in Georgia• Rogers defeats alleged sexual harasser Sharrock in Fort Oglethorpe contest• GOP sweeps governor’s races; Wisconsin gives Walker 3rd win• Ballot measures: Oregon, D.C. voters OK use of pot
WASHINGTON – As a child, Mitch McConnell contracted and largely beat polio. He was student president in high school, the University of Louisville and the University of Kentucky law school. He’s never lost a general election and has spent 30 years in the Senate scaling Republican leadership ranks.
Half a century after his first Washington stint as an intern, the methodical Kentucky Republican is now poised to achieve his long-cherished goal: becoming Senate majority leader.
McConnell was re-elected to a sixth term Tuesday as his party gained at least seven Senate seats – enough to control the chamber in next year’s Congress. McConnell, 72, is certain to be chosen by his GOP colleagues for the Senate’s most powerful job and will join House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, in confronting Barack Obama with his presidency’s first Republican-controlled Congress.
“He’s right at the doorstep of the position he’s aspired to all his life,” said former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss.