Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., admitted he never thought Donald Trump would win the presidential election.
In an interview on Kentucky Education Television's "One to One," McConnell confessed: "It never occurred to me that he might be able to win."
And McConnell said he thought the GOP "would come up short" in trying to hold the Senate majority.
"It's was really exciting because you get more excited about things you don't expect to occur," he said.
He claimed voters felt out of touch with Hillary Clinton, President Barack Obama and other Democrats.
"I think that there was a lot of feelings among just ordinary people all across the country that the current administration didn't care about them," he said.
"Trump was able to convey — oddly enough, a message from a billionaire who lives in Manhattan — a genuine concern for people who feel kind of left out, are sort of offended by all the political correctness they see around them and didn't feel like this is the America that they're accustomed to."
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.