Why Mitch McConnell split with the RNC over 'legitimate political discourse'

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., knows a political liability when he sees one. And for the last few days, he and fellow Republicans in the Senate have been trying to distance themselves from a major liability courtesy of the Republican National Committee.

Last week, the RNC censured Republican Reps. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois and Liz Cheney of Wyoming for their work with the House Jan. 6 committee. Crucially, the text of the censure resolution also accuses them of working with Democrats to target people engaged in “legitimate political discourse.” Since then, we’ve seen a litany of Republicans in the Senate criticize the national committee’s vote, including McConnell on Tuesday.

This wave of criticism isn’t happening because every senator speaking out is more worried about democracy than RNC members or the House GOP.

“On the substance, I don't think it was a good idea,” Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., told NBC News. Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, told Politico, “Nothing could be further from the truth than to consider the attack on the seat of democracy as legitimate political discourse.” Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, referring to RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel, told CNN, “I think Republicans ought to stop shooting at Republicans, including the chairman."

It’s definitely a welcome set of statements, given that the GOP, as a whole, has either ignored or outright defended the insurrectionists. But let’s be clear: This wave of criticism isn’t happening because every senator speaking out is more worried about democracy than RNC members or the House GOP. Nor is it likely to be because they’re protective of Kinzinger and Cheney. Instead, it’s the Senate’s unique place in our political system that has so many GOP senators willing to buck the RNC’s line.

While all 435 members of the House are up for re-election in the midterms, only one-third of the Senate is up for grabs in any one election. Unlike their House counterparts, senators can’t count on gerrymandered districts to win; they have to appeal to voters statewide. Even as the GOP has swung to the far right, including its embrace of former President Donald Trump, some Republicans senators have been more eager to present themselves as sensible bipartisan legislators than as burn-it-down firebrands. (There are, of course, exceptions.)

And while the political headwinds are currently good for Republicans, the party’s Senate candidates have a tougher map to work with than Senate Democrats do this year. They’ll be defending 20 seats in November, compared to Democrats’ 14. That includes seats in five states where the Republican incumbent is retiring, three of which are in states that the Cook Political Report considers either toss-ups or only leaning toward Republicans. Meanwhile, the GOP is hoping to be able to knock off at least one of the three Democrat-held toss-ups in Arizona, Georgia and Nevada.

In essence, the statements from GOP Senate leaders are retreads of the thin line McConnell has walked when it comes to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. On one hand, he’s been clear in the last year that he considers what took place an insurrection, meant to prevent the certification of the 2020 election. On the other, he voted against convicting Trump in his second impeachment trial. He also led the Senate blockade against the creation of an independent commission to investigate Jan. 6, despite House Republicans’ buy-in.

The statements from GOP Senate leaders are retreads of the thin line McConnell has walked when it comes to the Jan. 6 attack.

In all these cases, McConnell hasn’t been guided by any principles other than winning elections. The language in the RNC’s resolution might fly in the House and among some state-level Republicans — but not with senators, at least according to McConnell’s calculus. Better to siphon off swing voters in close races than to run on loyalty to Trump, like House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and his caucus have done and will do.

For now, they’re fighting a battle that most other Republicans are unwilling to fight. McCarthy told NBC News that the rioters who attacked the Capitol weren’t engaging in “legitimate political discourse” — but he defended the RNC resolution anyway. Trump, meanwhile, issued a statement Wednesday attacking McConnell for (correctly) referring to Jan. 6 as an insurrection. And while the RNC is working to clean up the political fallout from the resolution, including sending out talking points insisting that the GOP doesn’t support violence, it’s not about to withdraw the censure of Kinzinger and Cheney entirely.

In the end, Senate Republicans are illustrating the real value of Congress’ upper house, at least as far as it was originally designed. With its longer terms and its mandate to represent entire states instead of smaller districts, the Senate was meant to be divorced from the passions of the general populace and with a longer view than the House’s oft-rotating membership. This, not the filibuster, is the best example of the “cooling saucer” effect that is apocryphally attributed to the Senate. It surely doesn’t hurt in McConnell’s eyes that this willingness to keep the RNC and Trump at arm’s length might just help him become majority leader again.