LEXINGTON, Ky. — U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell said Wednesday morning he believes he's in a good position to maintain his status as Senate majority leader but declined to condemn President Donald Trump's comments questioning the integrity of the election.
"It appears, as of today, at this moment, that we are in a pretty good position in North Carolina and Maine," McConnell said. "If my math is correct and we win in North Carolina and Maine, I'm still the offensive coordinator."
McConnell rolled into reelection by beating Democratic nominee Amy McGrath by about 20 percentage points in Kentucky, one of several races where Republicans performed better than expected.
Although the Senate race in Kentucky was definitive, races in several states remained too close to call Wednesday morning, in part because of a heavy amount of absentee ballots and state laws that delayed the counting of those ballots.
President Donald Trump, who is in a close race, cast doubt on the integrity of the election early Wednesday morning when he made unsubstantiated claims of election fraud on Twitter and appeared to prematurely claim victory. Some Republicans, such as former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, criticized Trump's remarks, McConnell demurred, saying it's not unusual for election discrepancies to be settled in court.
"It's not unusual for people to claim they won the election," McConnell said. "I can think of that happening on numerous occasions. But claiming you win the election is different than finishing the counting. And what we're going to see here in the next few days, both in these Senate races and in the presidential race, is that each state will get to a final outcome."
He said the presidential race underscored the importance of the Electoral College, arguing that if the election were based on the popular vote, there would be no clear place where litigation could start or stop.
"We ought to be grateful for the Electoral College," McConnell said.
Although there had been talk of a Democratic "blue wave" in the buildup to the election, Republicans turned out heavily on Election Day, potentially swinging several close Senate races. Democrats picked up Senate seats in Arizona and Colorado, but Republicans picked up a seat in Alabama and held on in states like South Carolina, Iowa and Montana. It appeared the Georgia races, where a candidate must get 50% of the vote, could be headed to a runoff.
McConnell wouldn't speculate about which presidential candidate he would have to work with should Republicans hold on to the majority, instead repeating an often used line that he's been in both the minority and the majority and that he likes the majority a lot better.
While he called former Vice President Joe Biden "his old friend" on Wednesday (the two served together in the Senate, and had debates on the Senate floor back when Robert Bork failed to be confirmed as a Supreme Court Justice), McConnell said Trump ran a very strong campaign in the final weeks and potentially helped Republicans keep Senate seats.
He also said Republicans had improvements to make, particularly in matching Democrats grassroots fundraising and winning over suburban voters.
"I'm disturbed by the loss of support in the suburbs nationwide," McConnell said. "If you look at the Republican situation nationally, I think we need to win back the suburbs, we need to do better than we're doing lately and we need to do better with women."
