McConnell Steps Out of the Shadows and Becomes Top Democratic Enemy

Democrats’ new congressional Enemy Number One, thanks to his opposition to the party’s effort to expand voting rights for everyone: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Democrats who took control of the House last month are pushing a sweeping ethics and voting rights package. McConnell declared it dead in his chamber even before it was formally introduced, and went to the Senate floor on four different days to call the proposal a “power grab.” So Democrats are fighting back hard. “He’s right about one thing. It is a power grab, but it is not by Democrats,” said Cummings, who chairs the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. “It is by American citizens who voted for reform in this last election and sent a clear message that they want to exercise their constitutional right to vote without interference.” Democrats also maintain that McConnell is inadvertently helping the cause politically, even as he wields the power to block the measure. “In some ways his opposition could strengthen the demand for change because it reflects so many of the things the public is angry about, that there’s a group of insiders who get to whisper in the ear of lawmakers,” said Rep. John Sarbanes, D-Maryland, one of the bill’s prime movers. “He’s embraced the idea of trying to stop it from seeing the light of day and we’re undeterred by that.”