Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s job for the next Congress will revolve around blocking nearly everything the incoming Democratic House speaker sends him. | Alex Wong/Getty Images Congress McConnell tightens his grip after red-state Dems go down Senate Republicans will have a much easier time confirming Trump’s nominees after padding their majority Tuesday.



Mitch McConnell finally got some breathing room.

Despite dim prospects for legislative compromise on the immediate horizon with an incoming Democratic House, the Senate GOP’s romp Tuesday over at least three Democratic incumbents presages an easier two years for the Republican majority leader than he’s had for much of Donald Trump’s presidency.


McConnell can now focus even more intensely on the upper chamber’s bread and butter — what he calls the “personnel business” — by confirming dozens more federal judges to lifetime appointments and keeping Trump’s Cabinet fully stocked.

The Kentuckian will have a far smoother path to approving a replacement for Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who’s widely expected to be pushed out by Trump soon after the midterms. Confirming a potential replacement for Sessions was a much steeper climb for McConnell with his current conference of 51 GOP senators.

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Now that Republicans have a majority of at least 53 and as many as 56 in sight for the next two years, they’re already preparing for Trump to fire Sessions and to steamroll Democrats with a replacement.

“I think Jeff will step aside after the midterm and the president will nominate somebody,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) who could be Judiciary Committee chairman next year, said on MSNBC on Tuesday night. “I like Jeff Sessions but this is just not working. So if we hold the Senate, I think you will probably see a new attorney general sometime next year.”

The Republican gains in Tuesday’s midterms will also allow Trump to cut loose more of his Cabinet should he choose to do so, with Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen seen as other potential departures in the coming days. With near-unilateral confirmation power and more new conservative members, it will be far easier for the Senate GOP to confirm a new EPA administrator as well. That post has been held by an acting chief since Scott Pruitt resigned in July.

But the GOP’s resounding success in Senate races doesn’t mean their legislative lives will get easier next year.

McConnell’s job for the next Congress will revolve around blocking nearly everything the incoming Democratic House speaker sends him. The new House Democratic majority is likely to pass bills on campaign finance regulation, gun control and the environment, and McConnell’s biggest source of strength will be his ability to grind that legislation to a halt.

Although Trump called current House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Tuesday night to note her emphasis on bipartisanship in her own election-night speech, the House changeover also means that the GOP’s eight-year dream of repealing Obamacare is officially dead, at least for now. Another round of tax cuts sought by Republicans is also on effectively off the table.

And given that the legislative filibuster still requires 60 votes to do much at all in the Senate, the arrival of the new House majority leaves McConnell with almost no chance to legislate on immigration — an issue that both his conference and Trump still harbor hopes of tackling in order to build a border wall. With Democrats taking over the House, McConnell likely will have only a narrow window in the coming lame-duck session to try to approve significant funding for Trump’s wall.

Among the few possibilities for McConnell to work with House Democrats, who may themselves be in no mood to give Trump victories ahead of the 2020 presidential race, are a criminal justice bill, which passed the House with scores of Democratic supporters earlier this year, and an infrastructure measure that could give incumbents in both parties something to sell to their voters.

Despite the legislative headwinds, McConnell’s newly elected members struck an optimistic tone about taking the Senate in a new, more conservative direction.

“We have two years, a narrow window to show as conservatives we can make things work. We need to get our president re-elected,” Braun said in his victory speech Tuesday after defeating Sen. Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.).

In addition to Donnelly, Sens. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) and Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) lost their races to GOP challengers on Tuesday night. Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) was ahead in his own race as of press time, while Arizona's Kyrsten Sinema and Nevada's Jacky Rosen bids to flip two GOP seats blue remained too close to call. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) appeared to be on track to lose his race as of early Wednesday morning.

A slightly bigger majority will also take some of the spotlight off McConnell’s pair of high-profile centrists, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine, who have held the keys to much of the GOP’s agenda over the past two years. And the hollowed-out ranks of red-state Democratic moderates is likely to further heighten the partisan bitterness in a chamber where relations frayed to a near-breaking point during the battle to confirm Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

McConnell and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) will also have to reassess their relationship heading into the presidential campaign.

Schumer will run again for minority leader and is not expected to be challenged, but he will face even more pressure from his liberals given their presidential aspirations. As many as nine Democratic senators are entertaining White House runs in 2020 and will look to use the Senate as their own personal platform, creating a fresh challenge for Schumer.

For the past two years, the tough midterm map gave the Democratic leader a strong rationale to tamp down prospective rebellions from his left. Now Schumer will have fewer vulnerable incumbents to protect in red and purple states, giving him less incentive to cut deals with McConnell, such as one he made on judicial nominations earlier this year.

That could spell more fights to come, particularly as the GOP leader continues his march to reshape the federal judiciary with an array of young conservative Trump nominees. McConnell still has 122 vacancies to fill on the federal appellate and district courts — and now Democrats have more reason to fight back even as they have slimmer odds of defeating the nominees.

Not to mention that McConnell will have his own political future to think about: He's set to run for reelection in 2020 and Democrats would love to give him a real challenge if they can find someone to run against him.