Sen. Mitch McConnell and House Speaker John Boehner have been working for this moment for a long time.
Polls suggest they’re going to be in charge of congressional majorities in the new Congress, and it’s an arrangement for which they’ve been forming an alliance for eight years.
A Republican Congress next year would create a rarity — a Capitol Hill partnership in which the GOP partners actually like each other and work well together.
Republican victory Tuesday should elevate McConnell from minority leader to majority leader, as he is expected to beat Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes quite easily in his home state of Kentucky.
He and Boehner, R-Ohio, have stayed close for years, typically meeting weekly when Congress is in session, say aides for both.
In their eight years as leaders, they’ve had time to build and strengthen their personal and professional rapport. It’s allowed them and their staffs to coordinate closely on policy and messaging, said a senior Republican aide.
That has often not been the case when one party controls both chambers.
In the second half of the 1990s, Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole and Speaker Newt Gingrich, both Republicans, often didn’t get along. And Bill Frist, Senate majority leader from 2003 to 2007, often butted heads with his Republican counterpart in the House, Speaker Dennis Hastert.
On the Democratic side of the aisle, Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California have a distant relationship, in which the coolness stems from the four years they simultaneously ran majorities from 2007 to 2011.
But Boehner and McConnell see each other as partners with common goals, say those that know them. They have been gearing up for years to lead their chambers in a coordinated fashion.
“They do work well together and they understand the opportunity they may have if the Republicans get the majority in the Senate,” said Keith Appell, a Republican strategist with CRC Public Relations.
The opportunity is twofold, Appell says. First, Boehner and McConnell would work, at least at first, to pass Republican legislation with a modicum of Democratic support. That would force President Obama either to sign bills or risk criticism for obstructing measures that included support from some in his party.
“They’ll put the ball in Obama’s court to either play ball or take his ball and go home,” Appell said. “If he does the latter then he is making it even more difficult for his party in the next election and I think that’s the benefit of having [Senate and House Republican] leaders who work well together.”
Second, since the Republican pair has served in Congress for decades, Boehner since 1991 and McConnell since 1985, they’ve had a front row seat to witness the successes and mistakes of their predecessors.
