WOW. Mitch McConnell is in full on panic mode
Justin Barasky Mitch McConnell chief of staff Josh Holmes to NRSC
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s chief of staff is stepping down from his position to focus exclusively on the GOP leader’s reelection campaign and the national Republican effort to take back the majority next year.
The move, Republicans say, is a reflection of the growing belief — and concern — that 2014 could be the last opportunity in years for the GOP to recapture the Senate after blowing their chance at the majority in the past two election cycles. So McConnell is moving a key aide out of his official Washington office to work entirely on campaign politics.
Continue Reading
Josh Holmes, who has run McConnell’s personal office handling Kentucky-centric issues since December 2010, will now work in a dual role as a senior political hand to the National Republican Senatorial Committee and to help advise the GOP leader’s difficult reelection bid in Kentucky. In his new NRSC role, Holmes will work as a conduit to the downtown fundraising community as the GOP seeks to keep pace with Democratic fundraising.
Holmes’s departure comes as two other senior leadership aides have announced they are leaving the Senate, albeit for different reasons. Dave Schiappa, who serves as McConnell’s floor general and is perhaps the most important Senate Republican staffer, is leaving the chamber after nearly three decades of work to take a job as vice president at the Duberstein Group, a downtown lobbying firm. And Rohit Kumar, a top policy aide to the leader who helped negotiate key deals including the fiscal cliff accord, is also stepping down for personal reasons.
“I’m going to be leaving this job as Sen. McConnell’s chief of staff to head to the NRSC and Sen. McConnell’s campaign for the duration of the cycle,” Holmes said in an email. “This may be the best chance for Republicans in a generation to pick up the majority in the Senate, and Leader McConnell wants to ensure that we have all hands on deck.”
The move comes as Republicans are targeting Democratic seats in Montana, South Dakota, Alaska, West Virginia, Louisiana and North Carolina in their bid to pick up the net of six seats to win back the majority. But the GOP still must defend Republican seats in Georgia, where there is a messy GOP primary, and Kentucky, where polls show the race between McConnell and his likely Democratic opponent, Alison Lundergan Grimes, growing increasingly tight. The Democratic firm Public Policy Polling said Grimes was slightly ahead in the race in a survey released Thursday.
But while the GOP may need to run the table to take back the majority in 2014, a look at the map in 2016 and beyond shows an even tougher climb. This means next year could be the 71-year-old McConnell’s last chance at becoming majority leader.
Senior Republican Senate leadership staffers often hold joint political and official roles, so Holmes’s move is somewhat unusual. But it’s not unusual for Holmes. Before becoming chief of staff and while working in a more junior position in McConnell’s office, Holmes left his official role in 2008 and 2010 to work on McConnell’s reelection bid and in the midterm elections.
The 34-year-old Holmes, a long-time GOP operative who worked previously at the Republican National Committee and in other capacities, is expected to return as the leader’s chief of staff after the elections, if McConnell wins. An interim McConnell chief of staff will soon be named, aides said Thursday.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/08/mitch-mcconnell-josh-holmes-95063.html#ixzz2ajzEMlIL
No comments:
Post a Comment