It’s official: Mitch McConnell is the next Senate majority leader. He won the election unanimously by acclamation Thursday morning. One aide pointed out that McConnell has won all his leadership elections with unanimous support. New Hampshire Republican Sen. Kelly Ayotte gave his nomination speech, and Arkansas Sen.-elect Tom Cotton gave a speech seconding the nomination.
This is interesting only because there’s always noise about defection, disarray, and Republican infighting, and none of that materialized (yet). McConnell’s unanimous win doesn’t mean everything will be peachy-keen for Republicans for the next two years, but it’s a good reminder that relations in the Senate Republican caucus are a bit more amicable then some people’s cable news hits may suggest.
N.b.: McConnell isn’t officially the Senate majority leader until the new Congress is sworn in this coming January.
