The National Conference of State Legislatures’ 2024 summit has been a largely bipartisan affair, but Republicans and Democrats split Wednesday morning for a rallying cry from two national party leaders. 

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., called the prevalence of Republican-led state chambers a “stunning development” he attributed first to former President Barack Obama.

“A lot of it has to do with the coasts versus the central part of the country and a reaction on the part of many Americans to this elitist coastal view about what we ought to all think and be like,” he told Republicans at a lawmakers-only breakfast. “There’s been a revulsion to that type of thinking, and I think we need to thank President Obama for taking us in the right direction.”

McConnell noted that in the past four years, he was the only congressional leader not from California or New York, which has helped “completely reverse the political dynamics in rural and small-town America.”

At a simultaneous breakfast, Democratic state lawmakers heard from Tom Perez, President Obama’s labor secretary and a former Democratic National Committee chair who is now director of the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs.

Citing the preamble to the U.S. Constitution, Perez framed the Democratic Party’s work as a constant effort to create a more perfect union. He drew a rhetorical line connecting injustices in America’s past, including slavery, the Chinese Exclusion Act, the internment of Japanese Americans and McCarthyism during the Red Scare.

“At our nation’s inception, we understood that our union was imperfect,” Perez said.

Both leaders played up the importance of the 2024 election. McConnell warned that if Democrats win in November, they would give Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C., statehood, which would give them four more Senate seats. Democrats would also eliminate the filibuster and would pack the Supreme Court, he predicted. 

“I feel very strongly that the way you get policy you want is to win elections, not to break the rules,” he said. “They think what they want to do is so important, to hell with the rules. And if they get those two new states and pack the court, they’ll get what they want.”

McConnell also highlighted the importance of the court and discussed his decision to block Obama’s judicial nominees, giving former President Donald Trump the opportunity to appoint three Supreme Court justices and over 50 circuit court judges. 

Perez, directly referencing McConnell’s obstruction of those nominees, highlighted President Joe Biden’s call for major Supreme Court reforms.

“The Supreme Court has lost its legitimacy,” Perez said.

He spoke at length about the administration’s work on equity and on helping underserved communities, pointing to legislative wins such as the American Rescue Plan Act and the PACT Act.

Democrats need to get the word out about the administration’s successes, Perez said, calling Biden’s presidency “an era of unprecedented accomplishment.”

Perez praised the Inflation Reduction Act’s provision that capped insulin prices for seniors on Medicare and hinted that the Biden administration will announce more reduced drug costs in the coming weeks. 

McConnell also spoke about at least one of the bills passed under Biden — the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law — saying he still believed bipartisanship was important.

“I think when voters have spoken and approved a divided government, they’re not saying, ‘Do nothing,’” he said. “They’re saying, ‘There are big differences, but look for the things you can agree on and make some progress for the country.’”

Unity is particularly important given the growing threat from Russia, China, Iran and Iranian proxies, McConnell said, and America needs to be “well prepared in advance to deter the worst.” 

“Ronald Reagan said you get peace through strength,” McConnell added. “You want to show strength before the bullets start flying because a war is a lot more expensive than deterring a war. 

“This is the worst international situation since the Berlin Wall came down. No matter who wins this election, we need to get peace through strength.”

Krista Kano is a staff writer for Gongwer Ohio/State Affairs. Reach her at [email protected] or on X @krista_kano. 

Brett Stover is a Statehouse reporter at State Affairs Pro Kansas/Hawver’s Capitol Report. Reach him at [email protected] or on X @BrettStoverKS.