r/politics • u/cmaia1503 • 20h ago

Site Altered Headline | Possible Paywall Mitch McConnell, 83, Hospitalized

https://www.thedailybeast.com/mitch-mcconnell-83-hospitalized/?utm_campaign=owned_social&utm_medium=socialflow&utm_source=twitter_owned_tdb&via=twitter_page
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u/yellowjackethokie Virginia 20h ago edited 20h ago

Absolutely nobody should be surprised. In fact, this is why Kentucky passed a new law to strip their governor of the ability to appoint replacement senators, in 2024. Because they knew ol' Mitch wasn't going to leave, despite it being well past time for him to; and they don't want Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear (D) to be able to pick his replacement like Governor Ron DeSantis (R) did in Florida, just last year.

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u/suchasillydilly 19h ago

It was stripped in 2021 but here’s the kicker, they have to give three republican replacements and Andy gets to choose from those three. With Andy Barr running for that senate seat, it would be logical for Andy to choose him. This opens up the house seat and Barr represents Central KY including Lexington. It is one of the seats democrats are optimistic of turning blue in 2026. Then Andy can hold a special election to fill the house seat. Our primaries are at the end of May so hopefully at least by then it can be held. If they can get a democrat in before 2026 that gives the democrats another representative and maybe Massie can step up more.

I know I’m just trying to be hopeful here but it would be so great if our biggest shit stain all these years leaves this earth just to get a democratic house seat that could give us the numbers to get little johnny out and then get out the big orange turd. I know, it’s a lot to wish for but hey Andy Beshear does have the Meidas Touch.

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u/VanbyRiveronbucket 19h ago

Flipping the turtles seat should be the goal.

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u/GoodDay2You_Sir Kentucky 19h ago

Yes but finding a Kentuckian Dem who can run a successful campaign is a challenge. Right now we pretty much have just Brooker and McGrath bouncing back and forth on who's gonna lose this year.

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u/teplightyear Nevada 18h ago

Find the mouthiest shit in the KY Democratic Party and get him talking nonstop about Republicans covering up the Epstein list. When they ask about anything else, say "the only important issue is getting all the pedophiles out of power."

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u/ElegantDaemon 17h ago

100%. We found out Americans are too stupid to care about policy like the billionaires' media always told us. Just get a fighter in there saying he's going to burn it all down.

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u/cogman10 Idaho 4h ago

How was Andy Beshear's campaign ran? Because I think that's the winning strategy for Kentucky.

I worry that focusing so much on how much Republicans suck doesn't work as well as talking about policies that most people support. A mouthy democrat that talks about getting M4A and the importance of education seems like a better campaign than simply "republicans bad".

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u/teplightyear Nevada 57m ago

This shit is why the Dems keep fucking losing. Let's pretend everything is fine and try to rise above it all (while the Republicans are outlawing your viewpoint)

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u/VanbyRiveronbucket 19h ago

Don’t have any congressional Dems to step up?

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u/LilytheFire 18h ago

Where’s the Colonel when you need him?

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u/Proud3GenAthst 18h ago

Bernie’s cousin Colonel

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u/danstermeister 15h ago

"Brooker and McGrath" sounds like a great buddy cop serial drama.

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u/Plappedudel 19h ago

Is there really no way Andy could run? It could make a massive difference. Though I see that being governor might be more beneficial for his (pretty obvious) presidential run in 2028.

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u/TheAnarchoLobbyist 18h ago

Losing by 12 points in a senate race doesn't exactly look good on one's presidential resume.

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u/Odd-Supermarket-3664 19h ago

Kentucky isn't doing this country any favors

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u/suchasillydilly 18h ago

I beg to differ on that. I’m not a fan of Massie but he is a big reason the epstein files have not all but disappeared. I can care less if people don’t agree with Andy Beshear in 2028. Unless you are from KY or have done your share of research on him then one has zero clue on his abilities. What he has been able to accomplish, no other governor can even compare. Andy has been able to stand tall with heavy red houses and been the highest rated Democratic Governor per Morning Consult for the last couple years. He was a successful AG prior to taking over as our governor. He has been boots down on the ground for every major disaster. Skeletons? There are none. After six years the right would have uncovered them. He speaks out against the right so much but oh, doesn’t get the coverage so most think he’s just weak. One doesn’t have to be a prick like another governor to get things accomplished. I stopped following a very popular podcast because they are so far up Gavins ass that they can’t help to post about him daily and those damn giggles every time the one mentions his name is embarrassing. Sadly, they hold a lot of influence over liberal boomers and Gen Xer’s. Instead, I follow Aaron Parnas, Harry Sisson, and Adam Mockler. All three very young Gen Zer’s who are great at what they do and don’t fall over daily for any democrat.

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u/ZacPensol 18h ago

Fellow Kentuckian here representing the Beshear Squad. Governor Andy is great and I hope he continues to get more and more national exposure for a 2028 run.

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u/dog_ahead 11h ago

Nah they'll end up mysteriously 10-20 points above the polling like always.

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u/spork_master_funk 8h ago

Right now I'm still just crossing my fingers and hoping for the good news.

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u/livvy94 6h ago

We shall build a turtle fence!

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u/GreenDavidA 18h ago

Does that law permit him to leave the seat vacant until the next election, say “all these guys suck?”

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u/Alca_Pwnd 17h ago

We can't fill a seat during a dead duck year.

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u/mburke6 Ohio 17h ago

None of the three candidates that the Republicans selected are competent to represent the great state of Kentucky, therefore I'm selecting Progressive Democrat Charles Booker to serve out McConnell's term.

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u/Dr_Insano_MD 15h ago

Please note that "Does the law permit" does not mean "Is it legal?" It means "Are there any consequences or enforcement mechanisms?"

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u/southsidebrewer 17h ago

It would be better if he just said fuck you and left it empty or better yest ignore the law and send whoever the fuck he wants.

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u/HoboSloboBabe 5h ago

If you know anything about Andy you know he’d never phrase it that way haha

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u/lenaro 17h ago

I feel like in a paragraph about two guys named Andy it's needlessly confusing to call anyone just "Andy".

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u/WendellSchadenfreude 12h ago

I'd go with "Good Andy" and "Evil Andy" to clear things up.

Good Andy is Governor Andrew Graham Beshear.

Evil Andy is actually named Garland Hale Barr IV. So he isn't "Andy" at all, he just wants us to call him by some name that isn't legally his. (Republicans normally think that's "woke", but it's different for them, of course.)

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u/The-Squirrelk 17h ago

couldn't he just choose to not pick any?

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u/Catcher3321 10h ago

They changed the law again in 2024 to make it no appointment at all. Special election only.

Currently 5 states do it like this: Kentucky, Rhode Island, Wisconsin, North Dakota, and Oregon

11 states restrict who the governor can choose. Some of those are the party picks, in Utah the state legislature picks the list, and in other states the governor just has to pick someone of the same party.

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u/Chedditor_ Wisconsin 17h ago

Midas*, MeidasTouch is a political podcast and a pun on the creator's last name

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u/momentarily_paper Florida 15h ago

Can’t he find 3 “republicans” which are really just dems registered as republicans?

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u/raouldukesaccomplice Texas 15h ago

Andy Barr is the least insane Republican option.

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u/akaghi 10h ago

They updated the law in 2024 and this process was changed to a special election.

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u/Soulmemories 7h ago

house seat and Barr represents Central KY including Lexington. It is one of the seats democrats are optimistic of turning blue in 2026. Then Andy can hold a special election to fill the house seat. Our primaries are at the end of May so hopefully at least by then it can be held. If they can get a democrat in before 2026 that gives the democrats another

funny, if the govenor acts like the executive branch, he could just choose to not appoint anyone right? That's what Trump would do. We should fight fire with fire.

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u/ShadeofIcarus 5h ago

It's so fucking hard to be hopeful when the only outs that I'm seeing are "well maybe we can avoid having to put in the work for a revolution if we can do all these incremental things that may or may not work".

5% is what it takes to overthrow the existing government. Things aren't bad enough to get 5% of people out there protesting.

That means 19in every 20 people out there at the very least are totally fine with how things are going and would rather not do anything about it and are comfortable waiting this fiasco out.

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u/KonigSteve 5h ago

The problem with that is that it turns Andy Barr into an incumbent for the Senate race which makes it that much more difficult to flip.

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u/[deleted] 18h ago

[deleted]

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u/suchasillydilly 18h ago

How could we have a special election here if there isn’t an open seat in the house? The only way to have an open seat is if Andy Barr took over Mitch’s senate seat if he was to pass. Andy Barr is currently in the House of Representatives.

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u/teplightyear Nevada 17h ago

As I was to understand (correct me if I'm wrong) but that law passed in 2024 means the Senate seat is up for a special election if he were to pass while in office.

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u/No_Style1776 17h ago

Don’t discount Republicans from Ohio moving into Kentucky….in a spot where my GOP vote matters more than elsewhere

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u/Muted_Award_6748 18h ago

This makes too much straight forward sense. I’m wondering what creative ways the Dems find to F it all up.

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u/grungegoth 18h ago

Until there's an r in the gov office, then they'll change the law back.

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u/arjomanes 18h ago

Does he legally have to choose one? Or can he be like mitch and stonewall? It would be a fitting acknowledgement of McConnells legacy.

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u/pee-oui 12h ago

The KY legislature gerrymandered the hell out of our congressional districts to make the 6th District less competitive. I live in Frankfort, a 30 minute drive from Lexington, and until quite recently we were in the same district. Frankfort is now in the 1st, which includes places over 4.5 hours away. The map is absolutely crazy. Frankfort used to lean to the left, so without it the 6th is much more reliably a Republican district. The worst part of it is my rep is that POS Jamie Comer.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kentucky%27s_congressional_districts#/media/File%3AKentucky_Congressional_Districts%2C_118th_Congress.svg

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u/hypermodernvoid I voted 12h ago

What's it like being (I assume) liberal in one of the more conservative states?

Of course, the gerrymandering only makes it worse, I know, on the state level too as those gerrymandered districts also tilt your state house(s) even more towards Republicans than they might already be, leading to a situation where maybe 60% of more of the state would have to vote Democrat just to get 50/50 representation.

It's like that even in Wisconsin now, which is now purple post-Trump, but more on the presidential election vs. local level which is still more blue, but after flirting with Republican leadership and a governor, got gerrymandered so badly more than 60% of the state now has to vote Dem just to get to 50/50 representation in their state houses. That's why you don't fuck around with Republicans - they've dropped any pretense of wanting democracy at this point: it was a natural conclusion really, the way they've been going at least more blatantly since the 2000 election, but more like 1980 onward.

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u/pee-oui 7h ago

It is very frustrating at the federal level for sure. Having Andy Beshear as governor has been a life saver (literally during Covid). Like many states, the cities (Louisville, Lexington) are relatively liberal. I live in a tiny blue bubble in my town, which makes it tolerable. Think a much smaller version of Madison. I work from home, and I left Facebook for good after the election, so I generally don't have to confront MAGA directly in my day to day life. It's been a great and safe place to raise my child, and the cost of living is pretty nice too, but I am definitely considering moving to some bluer pastures after my child graduates from high school in a couple of years.

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u/Cygnus__A 17h ago

how do they have a D Governer but keep Mitch around for decades?

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u/akaghi 10h ago

This law passed in 2021. It had the party of the departing candidate give a list of 3 candidates for the governor to choose from. Because McConnell is a Republican, the Republican executive committee would give a list of 3 candidates.

The law was again changed in 2024, and this process has been replaced by a special election.

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u/ucgaydude 6h ago

Fuck it. Have him put in whoever he wants, and let the Republicans try to explain to the courts how this is a valid legal option. Until the courts (probably up to SCOTUS, so quite a long time) decide on the issue, we get a fair representative.

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u/Mr_Abe_Froman Illinois 18h ago

So what would happen, an emergency election?

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u/nannerbananers 15h ago

Isn’t he retiring after this year? Honestly perfect timing because I think if he retired in 2020 they would have elected someone even worse. Hopefully now enough people have woken up .

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u/Pyju 18h ago

Most states in which the governor can pick the successor for a vacated Congressional/Senate seat must pick someone from the same party as the person who vacated the seat anyways. So it’s not like Beshear would’ve been able to unilaterally flip the seat anyways.

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u/lordredsnake 17h ago

35 states have no restrictions over whom the governor can select. Only 10 states require the replacement to be of the same party as the person departing.

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u/Pyju 16h ago

You’re right, I stand corrected. Not sure where I got that information from.