Our republic is under assault from progressives on both the left and right and conservatives must use the primaries as a means to drain the swamp and it begins in 2020 with the defeat of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
When the staff at Conservative First began its initial discussion of the potential occupants of the 2020 Target List, there were a few disagreements. However, no one disagreed with who should be the first choice: current Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.
It would be a near-impossible chore for anyone to describe Mitch McConnell as a conservative. In fact, Sen. McConnell is closer to a technocrat rather than an ideologue. His 34 year track record of failing to promote a consistent conservative agenda in the United States Senate is the primary reason why he is on Conservative First’s 2020 Target List.
Mitch McConnell was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 1984, defeating an incumbent Democrat thus becoming the first Kentucky Republican to win a statewide race since the 1960s. McConnell’s win was less attributable to his staunch conservative bona fides, and more to the re-election of President Ronald Reagan.
Unlike most politicians, Senator McConnell has never sought the presidency and always dreamed one day of being the majority leader of the United States Senate; an ambition that was finally realized in 2015. This drive to affect change from the legislative body versus the executive branch belies his belief in strategizing and forming coalitions as a means to pass legislation. This might had been an effective strategy if McConnell stayed true to conservative principles. Unfortunately, this strategy appears to benefit the Democrats and progressives as much as it benefits conservatives.
An exhaustive list of issues and votes could be created which exemplify Senator McConnell’s establishment and moderate principles over the years but his strong opposition to term limits and his penchant for federal spending are at the top of our list
It’s not hard to see why term limits are completely off the table for the Kentucky senator whose ultimate goal is to acquire the most power he possibly can. McConnell strong-arms those not loyal to both himself and his lieutenants who have been in Washington D.C. forever. It’s a strategy that has unfortunately worked all too often and it must be stopped.
Since his ascension into the Republican leadership in the fall of 2006, Sen. McConnell has done little to advance the conservative agenda. In fact, the complete opposite is true as the federal debt has more than doubled from $9 trillion to over $21 trillion now. The party that claims to be for limited government and limited spending has as its leader in the U.S. Senate a feckless leader who fails to use conservatism to solve the problems that ail the nation.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell uses the conservative grassroots movement every two years as a means to rise or stay in power but he is also the first one to march to a microphone to denigrate a true conservative who is willing to challenge any one of his prized loyalists or himself.
Senator Rand Paul, the junior senator from Kentucky and one of Conservative First’s inaugural leaders at our founding, is a true conservative icon so we know Kentuckians can do much, much better than Sen. McConnell.
Therefore, Conservative First calls on grassroots challengers to step up and take on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in the 2020 primary to finally place a true conservative in the United States Senate and see the great commonwealth of Kentucky become the first state to have two senators be featured on our Leaders in the U.S. Senate page.
Our republic is under assault from progressives on both the left and right and conservatives must use the primaries as a means to drain the swamp. It begins in 2020.
