Mitch McConnell said he was pretty surprised on election night when he saw that not only was the Kentucky statehouse going the Republicans’ way, but the Senate and the presidency was theirs, too.
In a wide-ranging interview with Kentucky Educational Television, McConnell said that he “thought we had a pretty good chance of taking the statehouse after all these years,” but that the fact his party kept the U.S. Senate and won the White House was not expected.
“I honestly thought we wouldn’t hold the U.S. Senate. I thought we’d come up short,” McConnell said, noting that Republicans had 24 seats to defend in some tough states versus the Democrats who only had 10.
Then, McConnell added “I didn’t think President Trump had a chance at winning.”
McConnell told Kentucky Educational Television that he thought his last celebration of the night was going to be learning that Republicans had taken the Kentucky state house.
“It never occurred to me that he may be able to win as well,” McConnell said of Trump.