Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell doesn't sound like he'll spend any of his political capital fighting to overturn Gov. Matt Bevin's apparent election loss.
The Kentucky Republican agreed that Bevin appeared to have lost his re-election bid to Democrat Andy Beshear, but he declined to say whether the governor should concede the race, reported the Lexington Herald Leader.
“I’m sorry Matt came up short," McConnell said, "but he had a good four years and all indications are, barring some dramatic reversal on the recanvass, we’ll have a different governor in three weeks."
Beshear won 5,189 more votes than Bevin, out of 1.45 million ballots cast statewide, and the governor has asked for a recanvass, which will take place Thursday, and McConnell said he won by a similarly close margin in his first U.S. Senate race, in 1984.
"We had a recanvass, they added it up and it didn’t change and we all moved on,” McConnell said.
Bevin suggested he would challenge the results, citing "irregularities" in the election but offering no proof, and GOP legislators have backed away from their threat to decide the election themselves under an obscure constitutional provision.
“It’s time to call it quits and go home, say he had a good four years and congratulate Gov.-elect Beshear,” said Senate President Robert Stivers late last week.
Republican lawmakers have said there's no need for a legislative review unless Bevin can show significant evidence of fraud.
