Return to Washington Examiner Homepage
May 20, 2013 | 03:25 AM
politics
Washington D.C. weather
Politics: Congress

McConnell sees closely divided Senate coming

July 8, 2012 | Modified: July 8, 2012 at 12:03 pm
Leave a comment
Photo - FILE - In this June 26, 2012 file photo, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, of Ky. speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington. Republicans and Democrats in Congress who congratulated themselves for passing relatively routine legislation before July 4 are returning to the Capitol for a summer stocked with political show votes and no serious role for bipartisanship. Any thought of compromise on major issues _ taxes, spending, deficit control or immigration among them _ will have to wait until after the election or the new year. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
FILE - In this June 26, 2012 file photo, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, of Ky. speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington. Republicans and Democrats in Congress who congratulated themselves for passing relatively routine legislation before July 4 are returning to the Capitol for a summer stocked with political show votes and no serious role for bipartisanship. Any thought of compromise on major issues _ taxes, spending, deficit control or immigration among them _ will have to wait until after the election or the new year. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell says the odds of Republicans taking over the Senate after November's elections and him becoming the new majority leader are "50-50."

The Kentucky senator says he expects "a very close, competitive election" in the battles for the 33 seats on ballots this fall.

McConnell is not predicting a sweep for Democrats or Republicans in the fall Senate elections. With 50 seats needed to take control, McConnell says "at the end of the day, we will have a very narrow Senate one way or the other."

There are currently 51 Democrats and 47 Republicans in the Senate. There are two independents, Bernie Sanders and Joe Lieberman, who align with Democrats.

The comments came Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union."

Politics Videos

From WeeklyStandard.com

  • Ideological Revenue Service

    By: Mark Hemingway

    With three different scandals threatening to consume the White House last week—the Benghazi cover-up, the Justice Department’s seizure of the phone records of dozens of Associated Press...

    Read More...

  • The Real Scandal

    By: William Kristol

    Everyone in Washington, except those in the crosshairs, likes a good scandal, and THE WEEKLY STANDARD is no exception. What’s more, in the case of the Obama administration, comeuppance is well...

    Read More...

  • When It Rains, It Pours

    By: Fred Barnes

    There is no curse on the second term of presidents. When presidents lose credibility, when trust vanishes and their word is no longer accepted, they have only themselves to blame. That was true...

    Read More...

Most Read

Event Tickets & More