Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin (R), who earlier this year endorsed Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) for a seventh six-year term, recently took to the airwaves to — unintentionally — make a compelling case for why the Senate majority leader should in fact step down.
Bevin, who ran against McConnell in 2014 arguing that “[c]areer politician Mitch McConnell can’t defend his big government, big spending record,” has been a proponent of term limits for years.
In a radio interview last week on WKCT’s The Morning Show — first spotted by American Bridge 21st Century, a progressive research organization — Bevin argued that remaining in public office for too long led officials to become inefficient at their jobs.
“Sometimes, the longer you stay in something — disconnected from another something — the less you understand it, the less you’re able to interface with it, the less you’re able to effectively help it,” Bevin observed.
“And I’m a big believer in term limits — I just am — at any level,” he continued. “I think it’s important for us to be citizen-legislators as our founders intended, for us to serve for finite periods of time.”
He added, “Is it to say that someone can’t serve a long time and do a good job? Of course not. But I think there’s something to be said for fresh turnover of ideas, of energy, of commitment. A sense of urgency that comes by not being worrying about just getting re-elected, but being worried about getting things done. I think it’s healthy, I think it’s good for America when we see that.”
A strong belief in the importance of term limits, however, has not stopped Bevin from endorsing long-serving incumbents like McConnell, who is running for re-election in 2020.
Asked in February if he would support McConnell — who was first elected in 1984 — for re-election, Bevin responded, “Oh yes! The only time I did not vote for him is when I ran against him in a primary.”
Bevin praised the Senate majority leader as “pragmatic and masterful and calculated.”