Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) was endorsed by conservative radio host and former George H. W. Bush administration Secretary of Education Bill Bennett on Wednesday, who said McConnell’s primary opponent is “not serious” and would likely lose in the general election.
“Mitch McConnell is a conservative stalwart and we have fought alongside each other in many battles over the years,” Bennett wrote in an endorsement on his website published Wednesday. “He has a 100 percent rating from the American Conservative Union and is one of the most conservative and consistent leaders I have ever worked with.”
“I am proud to wholeheartedly endorse Senator McConnell for re-election and call on conservatives across the country to do the same,” he concluded.
McConnell, in an interview with Bennett early on Wednesday, thanked him and predicted that he could possibly become the Senate majority leader in the next election cycle.
“I deeply appreciate it, Bill,” McConnell said. “You’ve been a warrior along with us for a good while now. We’ve been fighting the liberals and I think, looking ahead, I think we’ve got a chance of having a great election in 2014.”
The endorsement should help McConnell as Bennett is a nationally syndicated conservative radio host with a large audience. Bennett regularly hosts prominent conservatives, with conservative bona fides from serving in both the George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan administrations. In the latter, he served as chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Bennett has also been the target of liberal organizations and has been unapologetic of the Bush administration. Democrats are quick to cite that in 2005 the radio host said on his show that crime rates could be reduced by aborting “every black baby in this country,” in reference to a controversial theory in the popular economic book Freakonomics. Bennett also said that doing that would be “an impossible, ridiculous, and morally reprehensible thing to do.”
After the McConnell interview on Wednesday, Bennett said listeners voiced strong criticism for the endorsement. Bennett, for his part, defended his endorsement saying Republican Matt Bevin, who is challenging McConnell in the primary, would probably lose against Democratic challenger Allison Lundergan Grimes in the general election.
“I think the guy who’s challenging him is not serious and could very well lose to the Democrat and I don’t want to lose that seat,” Bennett said. “I’m endorsing Mitch McConnell for reelection and I would endorse Ted Cruz for re-election in a second.”
