Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell offered praise Sunday for his colleague who spoke out against McConnell’s plan to refuse President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland a hearing and a vote.
“Mark Kirk is a great senator,” McConnell said on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday. “He’s running this year in Illinois. I’m confident he’s going to get re-elected.”
But McConnell remained firm on his pledge to block consideration of Garland.
The Kentucky senator said the schedule in the Senate is set by the majority leader, and that most of his Republican colleagues “are very comfortable with letting the American people make this decision by electing the next president who will fill this vacancy next year.”
McConnell’s praise came despite Kirk’s blunt take on the issue earlier this week. “Just man up and cast a vote,” Kirk said. “The tough thing about these senatorial jobs is you get yes or no votes. Your whole job is to either say yes or no and explain why.”
In a statement, Kirk said he would “assess” Garland “based on his record and qualifications.”
Kirk is among top Democratic targets. Kirk faces a tough fight to against Democratic Rep. Tammy Duckworth in his bid for a second term. Illinois is likely to go easily to Democrat Hillary Clinton in the presidential race, leaving Kirk the challenge of convincing large numbers of Clinton voters to split their tickets and back him.
McConnell needs GOP senators like Kirk, Wisconsin’s Ron Johnson and New Hampshire’s Kelly Ayote to win in Democratic-leaning states if Republicans are to retain a Senate majority. He said Sunday that each GOP candidate will have to run a unique race to prevail this year, when Donald Trump or Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, could prove a drag on the GOP ticket.
As a result, the Republican leader is tolerant of those senators diverging from his position on Garland.
