Will Censure of McConnell Push Primary Candidates Away from Party Boss and Further to the Right?

U.S. Sen. Leader Mitch McConnell’s work to pass the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act cost him the Republican base at home and could push other Republicans further towards the right in primaries.

Last week, the Jessamine County Republican Party censured McConnell and called on him to resign from his post as the Senate Republican Leader for his support of the gun legislation.

“…Senator Mitch McConnell was the only Republican member of Kentucky’s congressional delegation to support this dangerous and unconstitutional gun control,” the resolution said. “There is no excuse for any elected Republican to work with Democrats to undermine our constitutional rights.”

McConnell joined 15 other Republicans in the U.S. Senate to pass the Act that was passed in response to the May mass shooting at a Uvalde, Texas school.

The latest censure of McConnell could be a flare-up, or it could be the right wing of the GOP in Kentucky playing hardball and pushing primary candidates into office that are further from the ideological middle. With a plurality of voters now registered as Republican, the move could force more candidates away from McConnell and towards the ideology of Kentucky’s other U.S. Senator – Rand Paul.