McConnell has been unpopular in his home state for years, but his approval rating plunged in one poll to a rock-bottom 18 percent — with a re-election campaign looming in 2020. In January, he had raised red flags among Republicans and -Democrats alike when he took a key role in lifting sanctions on Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, a Putin ally under FBI investigation for his involvement in 2016 election-meddling; three months later, Deripaska’s aluminum company, Rusal, announced a $200 million investment in Kentucky.

Donald Trump speaking at a rally in Wilmington, North Carolina expressed concern about Hillary picking supreme court justices and then said "If she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks. Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is. I don't know."