Should Sen. Rand Paul run for president in 2016, he can count on support from his fellow Kentuckian Mitch McConnell.
Paul endorsed and campaigned for McConnell, the incoming Senate majority leader, during McConnell’s successful re-election bid this year. In return, McConnell has helped open doors for Paul to network with influential party power brokers and donors.
Now, McConnell says he expects to endorse Paul if Paul runs for higher office in 2016.
“I’m almost certainly going to be doing that at some point,” McConnell told CNN in an interview Monday.
Although Paul and McConnell are both Kentucky Republicans, they are in many ways unlikely allies. Paul took his seat in the Senate after winning the Republican primary over a candidate who was endorsed and cultivated by McConnell. And Paul has staked his professional identity on Libertarian-minded stances that have been at odds with some of those backed by McConnell, who is a more traditional conservative Republican.
After Paul went to bat for McConnell in this midterm election cycle, however, few Republicans have doubted that the alliance would extend into 2016, when Paul is up for re-election in Kentucky and is also expected to pursue the presidency.
But McConnell’s support will have its limits, he told CNN.
“I’m going to be helpful to him in any way I can be, but I’m not going to be tromping around in New Hampshire and Iowa, I can tell you that,” McConnell added in the interview.
