Donald Trump’s efforts to undo diversity, equity and inclusion efforts throughout the federal government have had a trickle-down effect far beyond formal DEI programs.

Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., won another term as Republican leader, his office said, cementing his role as the longest-serving GOP leader in U.S. history. But it’s still to be determined whether McConnell will retain his role as majority leader or cede it to Schumer as the final races for the U.S. Senate play out. Republicans brushed back Democratic challengers in several states, but failed to lock down the seats needed to retain their majority. The math has become more challenging for McConnell because the vice president of the party holding the White House casts the tie-breaking vote in the Senate. A Democratic majority in the Senate, the party that also controls the House would give the party a firm grasp on power in Washington.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., speaks with reporters during a press conference in Louisville, Ky., Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2020. “We’re waiting — whether I’m going to be the majority leader or not,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Wednesday. There already is a Jan. 5 runoff in the state's other Senate race. Securing the Senate majority will be vital for the winner of the presidency. John Hickenlooper defeated GOP Sen. Cory Gardner, and Arizona, where former astronaut Mark Kelly beat Republican incumbent Martha McSally.

The former astronaut defeated Republican Sen. Martha McSally, who was appointed to the seat after McCain’s death in 2018. Daines’ first election in 2014 broke a Democratic lock on the Senate seat that had lasted more than 100 years. The six-term congressman from northern New Mexico defeated Republican Mark Ronchetti, a former television meteorologist, and Libertarian Bob Walsh. Reed cruised to victory over Waters, an investment consultant who mounted earlier unsuccessful campaigns for state Senate and U.S. Senate in Massachusetts. Warner defeated Republican challenger Daniel Gade in a low-key race in which the incumbent had a massive cash advantage.

Republican Senate candidate Sen. Mitch McConnell, second from right, and his wife, Elaine Chao, right, look on as aides show him the election results in Louisville, Ky., Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2020. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley)WASHINGTON – Hopes fading for Senate control, Democrats had a disappointing election night as Republicans swatted down an onslaught of challengers and fought to retain their fragile majority. Democrats contested seats from New England to the Deep South and the Midwest to the Mountain West, reaching deep into GOP strongholds. The Democrats' gains were in Colorado and Arizona, where former astronaut Mark Kelly beat GOP incumbent Martha McSally. Republican Cynthia Lummis, the former congresswoman from Wyoming, won the Senate seat being vacated by Republican Mike Enzi.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell took a victory lap Wednesday for shepherding Amy Coney Barrett onto the U.S. Supreme Court, while his Democratic challenger questioned his priorities. Trump's chief ally in Congress, McConnell has touted his leadership post as an asset for Kentucky as he seeks a seventh term. But McGrath has chided McConnell for his decades in the Senate and has called for term limits for senators. The GOP-led Senate has confirmed more than 200 judicial nominees of the Republican president, including three Supreme Court justices. The Democratic challenger warned that adding Barrett to the Supreme Court imperils the Obama-era Affordable Care Act, and said McConnell was complicit.

(AP Photo/Bryan Woolston)LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Amy McGrath was in elementary school when Mitch McConnell was first elected to the Senate. The retired Marine combat pilot will have to overcome strong headwinds to deny McConnell a seventh term. While many Republican Senate candidates are scrambling to distance themselves from President Donald Trump, McConnell appears to be benefiting from his key role in executing the president's agenda. Other Democratic Senate candidates have been focusing on health care and the economy and gaining traction. McConnell has pushed to repeal the Affordable Care Act for years, while McGrath supports the Obama health care law, which provided health insurance for thousands of Kentuckians.

(Bob Daemmrich/Nexstar/KXAN via AP, Pool)WASHINGTON – Buoyed by massive fundraising success, Democratic Senate candidates are mounting a push in Republican states that few would have thought possible just a few months ago, placing continued GOP control of the chamber at risk. MJ Hegar in Texas reported raising over $13 million during the same period for her race against Republican Sen. John Cornyn. In deep-red Kentucky, Amy McGrath has posted strong fundraising numbers against Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. In Mississippi, Mike Espy reported raising $4 million in his rematch against Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith. O'Rourke was criticized for being too stingy with his cash, only reluctantly aiding other Democrats, though he eventually donated large amounts to the Texas Democratic Party.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., prepares for the start of his debate with democratic candidate Amy McGrath in Lexington, Ky., Monday, Oct. 12, 2020. In their first, and potentially only debate of the campaign, McConnell and Democratic challenger Amy McGrath sparred over the federal response to the COVID-19 crisis, the Supreme Court nomination fight and the Republican incumbent’s decadeslong record. When asked about the federal response to the coronavirus outbreak, McGrath gave President Donald Trump and Congress an “F,” before turning her attention to McConnell. Trying to put the blame back on McConnell, McGrath said: “If you want to call yourself a leader, you got to get things done. “Look, four years ago, Senator McConnell said by the McConnell rule during an election year, ‘We don’t vote on a nominee, let the people decide,’” McGrath said.

(AP Photo/Claire Galofaro)LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Democrat Amy McGrath called for fundamental change to combat “systemic racism" as the Senate candidate met Thursday with some of the Kentucky protesters seething over a grand jury's decision not to charge officers in the killing of Breonna Taylor. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, her Republican opponent, said peaceful protests offer a way to honor Taylor's memory. Nationwide protests over the deaths of Blacks by police have been a simmering issue with just weeks left in the bitter, big-spending Kentucky Senate campaign. On Thursday, McConnell and McGrath weighed in on fallout from the decision not to charge officers for killing Taylor — a case that garnered global attention. Meanwhile, McConnell said Cameron had done “the kind of thorough, impartial investigation that justice demands" in the Taylor case.

(AP Photo/Bryan Woolston, File)LOUISVILLE Taking the offensive after her narrow primary win, Democratic Senate nominee Amy McGrath challenged Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to disclose what he knows about intelligence assessments suggesting Russia offered bounties for killing U.S. troops in Afghanistan. She later accused the senator of dereliction of duty," unwilling to challenge President Donald Trump and hold Russia accountable. In a Senate speech Wednesday, McConnell warned again of Russian efforts to undermine U.S. interests in the Middle East. In recent days, McGrath barely held off a late surge from progressive state Rep. Charles Booker to win by 15,149 votes in the Democratic primary. Kentucky switched to widespread absentee voting for the primary amid the coronavirus pandemic, and election officials needed days to count ballots.

That's when results from the primary will be announced after a week of counting absentee ballots amid the coronavirus pandemic. Early results showed progressive candidate Charles Booker and establishment-backed McGrath almost neck-and-neck as of late Monday afternoon. (Ryan C. Hermens/Lexington Herald-Leader via AP, File)LOUISVILLE, Ky. Former Marine pilot Amy McGrath overcame a bumpier-than-expected Kentucky primary to win the Democratic U.S. Senate nomination Tuesday, fending off progressive Charles Booker to set up a bruising, big-spending showdown with Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. McConnell, a key ally to President Donald Trump, already breezed to victory in the GOP primary in his bid for a seventh term. Despite her advantages, McGrath sweated out her primary victory against the hard-charging Booker.

U.S. Senate candidate Amy McGrath speaks to people during a visit to Thankful Hearts Food Pantry in Pikeville, Ky., Monday, June 22, 2020. The lead in the Democratic primary has flipped back and forth between Booker and McGrath as results of individual counties' absentee tally trickle in. But the Democratic contest in this GOP-dominated state turned volatile when Booker, a Black state lawmaker, seized momentum in the final weeks. We are thrilled with the absentee results so far," said McGraths campaign manager, Mark Nickolas. The state turned to widespread mail-in absentee voting because of the coronavirus pandemic, while still allowing in-person voting as well.

Its almost like were at 7:30 on election night," longtime Kentucky political commentator Al Cross said Wednesday. And were not having election night, were having election week.All absentee ballots had to be postmarked by primary election day and received by county clerks offices by June 27 the Saturday after the election to be counted. On the day after the primary election, both campaigns looked for signs from the slivers of returns that could foreshadow the eventual outcome. After cruising to the GOP nomination on Tuesday, McConnell quickly tried to frame the fall election even before knowing who his Democratic challenger will be. McConnell has relished his role as the Senate gatekeeper to stop legislation sent over from the Democratic House.

That, along with strong demand for absentee ballots, could spare people from long waits, Adams said Monday. Nemes sued to get more in-person voting locations in the state's most populous counties. The surge of absentee ballots could cause waits of another sort Tuesday, as some counties have said they won't release vote totals before June 30. Kentucky turned to widespread mail-in absentee voting in an agreement between the Democratic governor and Adams in response to the coronavirus outbreak. More than 883,000 absentee ballots were requested statewide, with slightly more than half filled out and sent in, Gov.

Kentuckys Republican secretary of state, Michael Adams, said he hoped early voting and the large demand for mail-in ballots would avert long lines. With the state now allowing any registered voter to vote by mail, more than 400,000 mail ballots were returned as of Sunday. Counties have until eight days after Election Day to count and release the results of mail ballots, with 1.7 million requested by voters. As Tuesday's voting approached, President Donald Trump continued his effort to undermine Americans' faith in mail-in voting by repeating his unfounded claim that the system is rife with fraud. Because of MAIL-IN BALLOTS, 2020 will be the most RIGGED Election in our nations history - unless this stupidity is ended," he tweeted, accusing proponents of using Covid in order to cheat.Already this year, problems like long lines and lost mail-in ballots have plagued elections in Georgia, Nevada, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.

Yet they are both the preferred candidates of the Democratic Partys Washington establishment as voters in Kentucky and New York decide their congressional primary elections on Tuesday. Scott Applewhite, File)NEW YORK Amy McGrath and Eliot Engel live hundreds of miles apart in states with dramatically different politics. Yet they are both the preferred candidates of the Democratic Partys Washington establishment as voters in Kentucky and New York decide their congressional primary elections on Tuesday. In New York, the progressive pushback against Engel's reelection was somewhat surprising given his status as one of the Democratic Party's most liberal members. The winner of the New York House primary on Tuesday is expected to win the general election easily given the district's strong Democratic tilt.

Kentucky turned to widespread mail-in absentee voting in an agreement between the state's Democratic governor and Adams in response to the global coronavirus outbreak. The state's primary is typically in late May but was delayed. In Louisville, a city of 600,000, the only in-person voting place on Election Day is at the state fairgrounds. The county also allowed early in-person voting beginning June 15 at the state fairgrounds. More than 883,000 absentee ballots were requested statewide, with slightly more than half filled out and sent in, Gov.

HOLD FOR STORY- In this June 17, 2020 photo U.S. Senate candidate Charles Booker shakes hands with protestors in Louisville, KY. Booker is running against Amy Grath for the senate democratic nomination. McConnell, the Senate majority leader, mentions Taylor almost daily and has embraced legislation intended to overhaul police practices. I have faith that Kentuckians know Im the best candidate to fight for them and to defeat Mitch McConnell, McGrath said. State Democratic Rep. Angie Hatton, who represents an Appalachian region in southeastern Kentucky, said Bookers economic message seems to be catching on in her district. Democratic strategist Mark Riddle said Booker has successfully captured a moment and sometimes moments define campaigns."