Mitch McConnell opened up about the Senate races in a brief interview with Manu Raju, a senior political reporter at CNN. During the exchange, he made it clear, he was not very optimistic that Donald Trump will help any candidate hoping to keep their seat.
While McConnell, the Majority Leader of the Senate, has timidly endorsed Mr. Trump, he has been forced to come out on numerous occasions to say he disagrees with the New York billionaire’s comments on the Khans, on banning Muslims, and on John McCain.
In order words, the two men have a rocky relationship, and the Kentucky Republican is always struggling whenever he has to talk about Trump. So, it is not very surprising that when asked what effect will Trump have on the Senate races, his answer was very confusing. He said:
“I don’t think we know that yet, I think we have to see where the presidential election goes.
McConnell added:
“One of the good things about the Senate is the fact that the races are big enough to stand on their own, we have people, who will go out even in a presidential year and vote for a Senate candidate. These races are big, well funded and are individual pictures, individual contests that are being painted for senators in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida, and Illinois.”
Mr. McConnell went on to say:
“I hope Donald Trump is winning in the fall, but I don’t think the Senate majority depends on him.”
McConnell claimed that the Republican Party will keep the Senate majority and predicted that Evan Bayh will lose in the red state of Indiana. Experts believe that Democrats have a real chance at taking back the Senate if there is an implosion of the Trump campaign in October.