Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) appears to be losing his hold on the party as Senate Republicans continue to rebuke GOP leadership for their support of the new Ukraine-border legislation.
The party is poised to tank the vote on Wednesday for the bill, emerging from a GOP conference on Monday night leaning toward voting “no” en masse. Since then, Republican lawmakers have wasted no time mocking McConnell and his leadership record.
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), who is adamantly against the border bill, posted a cartoon from the Peanuts comic strip with McConnell’s head on Charlie Brown’s body lying on the grass and Sen. Krysten Sinema (I-AZ) as Lucy holding a football.
“The very sad and predictable result of the Senate’s secret border negotiation,” Johnson said in a post on X, a reflection of the anger from several members who felt they were left out of the border bill process.
On Tuesday, Johnson joined Sens. Mike Lee (R-UT), Ted Cruz (R-TX), Rick Scott (R-FL), Roger Marshall (R-KS), and Eric Schmitt (R-MO) to take a victory lap announcing the bill’s lack of support among the party.
“The good news is that this bill is dead,” Cruz said.
Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) also came to the podium, blaming GOP leadership for the deal.
Senate Republican leaders “are out of touch with Republican voters,” Vance said.
The challenge for McConnell has always been winning the votes of a majority of his conference (25 of the upper chamber’s 49 Republicans), and it seems unlikely to happen this time around. Several allies of the longtime Kentucky senator have come out against the bill — including Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY), the No. 3 Republican in the Senate.
Barrasso argued the border bill, which is the product of four months of negotiations between the Senate and the White House, would not stem the influx of immigrants arriving through the southern border.
“I cannot vote for this bill. Americans will turn to the upcoming election to end the border crisis,” Barrasso said on Tuesday.
Sen. Deb Fischer (R-NE), another McConnell ally, signaled her opposition to the bill on Monday night.
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“I cannot vote for a bill that funds the security of other nations while leaving our own border security in jeopardy,” Fischer said.
Most of McConnell’s leadership team has either stayed silent on the bill, outright opposed it, or at least acknowledged that it will not pass the first time around.
