Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell is planning to step aside soon from that role as he begins his exit strategy from the U.S. Senate.
McConnell, who serves Kentucky, has been in the Senate since 2007 but has served as the leader of the GOP in the Senate since 2015. McConnell said he plans to step down from that role and will serve out the remainder of his Senate term which ends in 2027.
The move has sent ripples through the Republican Party as several lawmakers have voiced support for different candidates they feel should take over as Senate GOP leader. For Indiana’s Mike Braun, that person is Sen. Rick Scott of Florida.
“Clearly the party has changed,” Braun said on Fox Business. “Ever since I came in in 2018 fifteen of the last seventeen senators come from a different way of thinking (than McConnell). We need somebody who reflects that different point a view. (Scott) is clearly from that new guard.”
Braun added that the next GOP leader needs to take a harder line when it comes to how they interact with Democrats, especially when it comes to securing the southern border. He also boasted his usual talking points about how the Senate needs to be more fiscally responsible, and even claimed the country is close to entering a form of “Chapter 11 bankruptcy.”
Braun also called on McConnell to voice support for former President Trump in the presidential election.
“If he does decide to stick through November, he needs to come out strongly for Trump even though he might have to bite his tongue to do that,” Braun said. “If we do anything that splinters the thin, thin margin we might have, polling kind of leaning in our favor, it will be another political disaster.”
Braun is not seeking re-election to the Senate this year. He is running to become Indiana’s next governor.
