Sen. Bernie Sanders is in the middle of a heated Democratic presidential primary, but that didn't stop him from taking a few minutes Tuesday night to rip U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

As politicians do in 2019, Sanders took to Twitter to express his feelings after coming across a Courier Journal tweet that linked to an op-ed written by the senator from Kentucky.

The article Sanders was referring to in his Twitter post was a first-person account from McConnell where the senator claimed, among other things, that "socialist schemes" such as "a government takeover of health care" and changing election rules won't be passed while he's in charge. The opinion piece from the senator was posted on courier-journal.com Tuesday in response to a Courier Journal editorial saying that McConnell, not President Donald Trump, holds the power in Washington, D.C.

McConnell is up for reelection in 2020. No Democratic challengers have yet announced intentions to run against him.

Read McConnell's column:As long as I'm Senate leader, Democrats' 'socialist schemes' won't become law

Sanders has made several visits to Louisville over the years. He stopped in Kentucky and hosted a huge rally at Waterfront Park in May 2016 amid his primary run against Hillary Clinton, who edged him in the Kentucky race by less than a point. He also hosted rallies in Louisville in April 2017, after the election of President Donald Trump, and months later in November 2017.

Sanders and McConnell have, as you may have guessed, clashed in the past, notably in December 2017, when McConnell accused Sanders of forcing a new tax on Kentucky's Berea College. Others disagreed with that assessment, since the new tax was included in McConnell's tax reform proposal.

Background from 2017:Tiny Berea College foundation ensnared in tax bill scheme

In February 2019, Sanders announced he would run for president again next year.

Lucas Aulbach can be reached at laulbach@courier-journal.com, 502-582-4649 or on Twitter @LucasAulbachCJ. Support strong local journalism and subscribe: www.courier-journal.com/lucasa.