McConnell calls Trump ‘diminished,’ vows to find ‘quality’ Senate candidates in 2024

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said former President Trump’s political power is “diminished” following his endorsed candidates’ lackluster performance in the midterm elections and vowed to find “quality” candidates for Senate races in 2024.

“Here’s what I think has changed: I think the former president’s political clout has diminished,” McConnell said in an interview with NBC News released on Friday.

Despite predictions of a “red wave” in this November’s midterm elections, Republicans lost ground in the Senate and only managed to secure a slim majority in the House. Many in the GOP have since placed the blame on Trump and the far-right candidates he supported.

“We lost support that we needed among independents and moderate Republicans, primarily related to the view they had of us as a party — largely made by the former president — that we were sort of nasty and tended toward chaos,” McConnell told NBC.