Washington

As he runs for reelection, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is positioning himself as the president's trusted right hand, a prominent sometimes reviled Republican like none other.

"President Trump and I are making America great again!" he declared at a rally in Kentucky, voice rising over protesters.

He revels in the nickname he's given himself — "Grim Reaper," bragging that he's burying the House Democrats' agenda — though he seems stung by one lobbed by opponents, "Moscow Mitch."

But the Democrats' agenda includes gun legislation to require background checks that Trump now wants to consider, forcing McConnell to adjust his earlier refusal to do so. The Senate leader has been here before, pushing ahead with a Trump priority that's unpopular with most Republicans. But this will test both his relationship with the president and his grip on the GOP majority.

McConnell is dependent on Trump's popularity.

"They need each other," says Scott Jennings, a longtime adviser to McConnell.

The new McConnell strategy shows just how far Trump has transformed the GOP, turning a banker's-collar-and-cufflinks conservative into a "Fake News!" shouting senator.

Two years on, McConnell has proven a loyal implementer of the president's initiatives.

Republicans, long allied with the National Rifle Association, have resisted stricter laws on firearm and ammunition sales. But the frequency of mass shootings and the grave toll are intensifying pressure to act.

Trump on Friday revived his interest in having Congress take a look at expanding federal background checks and other gun safety laws long pushed by Democrats, insisting he will be able to get Republicans on board. McConnell, in a shift, said he's now willing to consider those ideas "front and center" when Congress returns in the fall.

But McConnell stopped much of the Obama agenda when he first became Senate leader and more recently halted bills from the Democratic-controlled House, including one to expand background checks.

"We've seen it before," tweeted Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. after mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton. "An awful shooting occurs. @realDonaldTrump expresses interest in helping. Republicans try to get him off the hook with lesser measures. Nothing happens."

Democrat Amy McGrath, a former fighter pilot, hopes to win the party's nomination to challenge him next fall.

McGrath tells Kentuckians McConnell is part of the problem, a long-serving leader who stood in the way of gun safety and health care for years, and is hardly the one to fulfill Trump's promises. Both parties say the Kentucky race could easily approach $100 million, second only to the presidential contest.

Kentucky remains a GOP stronghold where Trump is extraordinarily popular. With a national profile, McConnell's record is under scrutiny.

An investment in a Kentucky aluminum plant by a Russian company has raised questions. McConnell refused to allow the Senate to consider a House election security bill after Russian 2016 campaign interference. Critics called him "Moscow Mitch."

The state's one Democratic congressman, John Yarmuth, whose district includes liberal Louisville, said McConnell was never popular in Kentucky but manages to win elections.

Yarmuth said: "He's in good shape only because Trump's at the top of the ticket."

This weekend, McConnell told voters that he's the only member in congressional leadership not from New York or California. "I'm the guy that sticks up for middle America."