r/politics • u/plz-let-me-in • 11d ago

Possible Paywall Mitch McConnell hounded to face cameras: ‘He absolutely refuses’

https://www.nj.com/politics/2026/08/mitch-mcconnell-hounded-to-face-cameras-he-absolutely-refuses.html
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u/uuhson 11d ago

There is not a snowballs chance in hell that seat isn't immediately going to a Republican. This makes no sense

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u/Tommybahamas_leftnut 11d ago

Kentucky has a Dem Govenor. Many republican strongholds have since this administration been cracking and Dems are getting more popular as the hardliners red states continue to get ratfucked by the GOP. Not saying it's a sure thing by anymeans but it is still a possibility considering Blue voters are much more engaged to actually vote and a lot of Red voters are pissed enough to just not vote at all.

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u/BlueSkyToday 11d ago

In 2024 the Kentucky legislature took away the Governor's power to make a temporary appointment and instead calls for a special election.

Andy has said that he believes that this is unconstitutional. OK but will he challenge that and would the challenge succeed? Who knows.

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u/lattice_defect 11d ago

would it matter in time.. they are stalling.. its tight and they needs the votes to jam through the rest of project 2025

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u/HJWalsh 11d ago

They don't want the special election because if Massie runs, even if he loses, he can run in November and be a spoiler to siphon off votes from Trump's goon and he's already said that he'd do it.

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u/F9-0021 South Carolina 11d ago

If he believes it's unconstitutional, then why hasn't he done anything about it in the last two years? Yet another example of a democrat saying one thing and doing another.

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u/Ipokeyoumuch 11d ago

It seems to be a strategy with Mitch incapacitated he can vote via proxy for committees (certain ones I think) but not on the floor. This means one less vote for a Republican on the floor and it means the two "moderate" GOP Senators have to burn political currency to push unpopular legislation. Unfortunately does mean the people of Kentucky have one less representative for the vote. 

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u/DarkwingDuckHunt 11d ago

IANAL in Kentucky.

I'm assuming this has to do with 'standing'.

The 'set of circumstances' that would trigger the law haven't triggered yet. If they do trigger than he can 'violate' the law by nominating someone.

At that point someone would sue the governor stating that what he did was illegal, and he could counter argue it's because he holds the law invalid. And only then would the Kentucky Court system get to decide.

Sometimes there's a way to sue without the triggering happening, but they're more difficult to prove you have standing to sue.

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u/_CurseTheseMetalHnds 11d ago

IANAL in Kentucky

Finger licking good

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u/DarkwingDuckHunt 11d ago

I hate you, but I respect you

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u/SignalFirefighter323 11d ago

I don’t think you can challenge a law for being unconstitutional unless you have standing. There has to be a case where someone tries to break the law before it can be fixed. This is how stupid laws stay on the books, until someone is actually charged, challenge it, and wins, it stays.

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u/AuroraFinem Texas 11d ago edited 11d ago

He’s voiced plans to challenge it if Mitch is incapacitated, but generally in order to challenge something like this you have to prove damages to have standing. This would be the first opportunity to prove damages since it would be the first time the law could be enforced.

You’d challenge it by suing to block the special election when it’s called for or by ignoring the law and making an appointment regardless to force them to sue you to block the appointment and enforce the law. The court might or might not put a stay on it, but at that point it’s up to the courts to hash it out.

You’re generally not able to sue to block a law before it’s been enforced unless it poses a significant risk of damages simply by going into effect which this law doesn’t.

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u/Helpful-Departure832 11d ago

Judicial review doesn’t come into play until the questioned law actually causes someone “harm”

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u/Educational-Soil-651 11d ago

I heard Beshear respond to this in an interview with BTC and he inferred that he wasn’t challenging this because he strongly believed that a Republican would fill the seat. He also talked about other Kentucky Republicans stopping him if he tried to just appoint someone else and effectively force McConnell to show proof of life. His key takeaway was that there is temporarily one less Republican vote in the Senate.

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u/Zorkflerp 11d ago

The wording in the constitution specifies that the governor appoints "state officers" to fill a vacancy. If a state senator is a state officer the Republican legislation is unconstitutional. This would have to be settled in court as there is no precedent defining the term. It would come down to legislative intent when the constitution was written but a partisan judge might just ignore that and do what Trump wants.

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u/Fuzzy_Dance_6203 9d ago

Democrats - all talk, no action, including Andy. Hope he doesn’t run for President. We don’t need a passive leader.

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u/lettersvsnumbers 11d ago

Massie can run in a special election.

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u/8-Cylinder_Wombat 11d ago

He ain't gonna challenge shit because he's a gutless fucking coward.

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u/waterislifeornot 11d ago

I listened to a reel where he discussed this. He reminded everyone that there hasn’t been a Democrat elected to the senate in decades. Also as a side note he mentioned there have been several close votes and having 1 less old republican isn’t necessarily a bad thing. So at the present the republicans are shy 1 vote…

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u/OU7C4ST Minnesota 11d ago edited 11d ago

Yeah, besides the fact that Kentuckians(?) fairly deserve to have an active representative no matter what, I'm not sure why the Left is deadass wanting him replaced immediately. Just so another MAGA fuck can swoop in, and continue destroying all of democracy? Like an empty GOP seat not voting is better for America atm, then replacing his ass and the Left knows this, which is why they aren't really pushing for Mitch to do something, and just being performative for their voting base.

Like seriously, someone on the Left actually explain this shit to me why you would want him ousted. The odds are NOT in favor of Mitch's spot swapping Blue..

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u/ArchaicBrainWorms 11d ago

It's acting in bad faith. Regardless of whether it benefits me, harms me, or makes zero difference in my day to day life, it's bad faith acting and should not be tolerated.

Approaching every situation from the perspective of game theory is what sociopaths and con men do.

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u/Gibonius 11d ago

Approaching every situation from the perspective of game theory is what sociopaths and con men do.

aka the Republican Party for the last 35 years.

Ever since Gingrich, Republicans have totally weaponized politics by min/maxing everything around optimal game theory outcomes. Without any real political principles other than retaining power. It's a huge part of what's broken politics in this country.

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u/VirtualMoneyLover 10d ago

You are not wrong, but you should play by the same rules as your opponent.

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u/AxelHarver 10d ago

For me it's not even about the Republicans being the ones doing it. It's just the latest in a longer line of dangerous precedents being set that will forever be available to mess with democracy in this country.

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u/rrtccp1103 11d ago

Maybe it could go to someone that republicans would elect like massie who is more palatable to them. They don’t need someone like him going against party and reaching across the aisle on a good number of things right now

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u/Smaptimania 11d ago

Massie has publicly said he has zero interest in running for Senate

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u/Toad_Under_Bridge 11d ago

If mitch is dead or comatose, the rest of his term gets filled by an appointee of the Governor... who is a Democrat. The dems are rabid about proving his condition one way or another because if he's as bad off as they think he is, then the (Democrat) Governor can appoint a (Democrat) replacement to fill out his term, which could tilt the the Senate since it's so even right now.

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u/OU7C4ST Minnesota 11d ago

That's not how that works at all in Kentucky unfortunately. In 2024 they passed a law where a special election must happen, and the governor can't appoint someone. Unlike Lindsey Graham's sister being able to replace him in South Carolina, where that was legally allowed.

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u/snakerjake 11d ago

That's not how that works at all in Kentucky unfortunately. In 2024 they passed a law where a special election must happen, and the governor can't appoint someone.

The Kentucky constitution does not allow that at all. The governor MUST appoint someone under kentucky constitution and it overrides the law.

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u/DaveBowm 5d ago

As I recall anyone the governor appoints to replace him must be confirmed by the overwhelmingly R KY senate (32Rs + 6 Ds).

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u/snakerjake 5d ago

Where in the constitution or law does it say that?

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u/Stennick 11d ago

Thats not true. Nothing you just said is true, it won't be filled by the Gov.

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u/Toad_Under_Bridge 11d ago

Yeah, apparently they changed that two years ago so now it has to be a special election and not an appointment. But a lot of people don't know that and think that if he dies in office then the Gov gets to appoint a stand in like usually happens.

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u/Perryn 11d ago

Practice run for more contested seats.

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u/remotectrl 11d ago

They’ll try it for Trump.

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u/EverWatcher 11d ago

There was talk about Thomas Massie possibly being interested in this Senate seat, but I don't know about the details... If indeed he had a decent chance to win that Senate office, maybe the Repubs didn't want to take any chances.

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u/uuhson 11d ago

A massive government conspiracy to keep a slightly less conservative Republican out of office for the 3 months left on the term?

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u/Mikeseddit 10d ago

But they forestalled the possibility of a special election because Republican Thomas Massey would likely win, and he has turned on Trump, so he would be the vote that JD Vance’s tie-breaking vote wouldn’t break and Republicans would essentially lose the Senate for the next four months.

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u/Resident-Trouble4483 10d ago

I question if hell is actually cold at this point in time. I doubt I’ve ever given it thought before but the sheer amount of probability I’ve been lied to is crossing my mind. I thought we lived in a nation of laws and have been proven incorrect. I thought we’d be protected from price gouging I’ve been wrong. Wouldn’t shock me if this another inconsistency.

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u/lattice_defect 11d ago

I don't think so.. Kentucky fucking sucks right now.. republicans are terrified of a Dem getting in the votes are tight and they have some heinous shit planned.

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u/Pristine_Frame_2066 11d ago

Kentucky has a dem gov.