Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell was booed by the crowd while casting Kentucky's delegate votes Monday, the first day of the Republican National Convention.
“Madam chairman, the commonwealth of Kentucky proudly casts 46 votes for the next president, Donald J. Trump,” McConnell said while being drowned out by boos and a smattering of cheers.
The Kentucky Republican, who had an uneasy but mutually beneficial relationship with Trump when he was in the White House, has not been a particularly popular figure in the GOP since he acknowledged that Joe Biden won the 2020 election. Although McConnell voted to acquit Trump in his impeachment trial, he excoriated the former president over the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol in 2021, calling him “practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day.”
Trump has criticized McConnell repeatedly and hurled racist attacks against his wife, former Labor Secretary Elaine Chao. In February, Trump said he did not know if he could work with McConnell if he was re-elected as president this year.
Yet, McConnell had been inching toward reconciliation in recent months, as Trump swept the Republican primary races and most prominent figures in the GOP fell in line. McConnell eventually did so himself, endorsing Trump for president in March. The two men also appeared to set aside their differences at a meeting on Capitol Hill last month after years of not speaking to each other.
Still, it's clear from the reception McConnell received Monday that many Republicans have not forgiven — or forgotten — his refusal to cave to Trump immediately after the 2020 election.
Once a commanding force in the Senate, McConnell’s influence over the Senate GOP has waned in recent years as Trump’s has grown. Earlier this year, Trump worked to undermine a bipartisan border bill that McConnell had championed. McConnell himself ended up voting against it. Weeks later, the 82-year-old senator announced that he would step down as minority leader in November.