The Clear Sign Mitch McConnell's Daughters Don't Support His Career

When it comes to divisive politicians, Senator Mitch McConnell is one of the biggest. He has served in the Senate since 1984, and in that time, he's misaligned himself with many politicos — not to mention his own family. McConnell has three adult daughters from his first marriage to Sherrill Redmon, and their thoughts on his career might surprise you.

Despite the decades of upheavals by McConnell and vitriolic response from the left, he was apparently flabbergasted at the idea that he's considered cruel. In a 2022 interview for Axios, interviewer Jonathan Swan pointed out McConnell's "ruthless style of politics" (per Yahoo). Taken aback, McConnell replied, "I didn't realize I was known for playing a ruthless — I thought, my wife thinks I'm a really nice guy ... My kids like me. I got a lot of friends."

However, while his daughters Elly, Claire, and Porter may carry his name, they don't carry his political views. Still, their relationship to his work varies from woman to woman. 

It honestly shouldn't surprise anyone that Mitch McConnell's three daughters ended up opposite of his Republican views. Their mother, McConnell's ex-wife Sherrill Redmon, went on to become a feminist scholar who worked with Gloria Steinem after divorcing him, per The New York Times. It seems the three women align more with their mother politically than their father. 

Porter McConnell is a progressive activist dedicated to busting up predatory financial systems, and she openly criticized her father's push to instate Brett Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court. Claire McConnell also scrutinized the Kavanaugh appointment online, and Eleanor McConnell is a registered Democrat, according to a profile in The New Yorker. None of the three daughters responded to the outlet for the piece. However, in relation to Redmon's relationship with McConnell, Steinem told The New Yorker that she doesn't talk much about that period in her life. 

"I can only imagine how painful it must be to marry and have children with a democratic Jekyll and see him turn into a corrupt and authoritarian Hyde," Steinem wrote to the outlet.

When it comes to political leanings, Mitch McConnell's youngest daughter, Porter, is quite clear about where she stands. She's the senior director for Take on Wall Street at Americans for Financial Reform, and is a policy expert with a master's degree from the University of Michigan. As an activist, she's typically unafraid to voice her views, which are often diametrically opposed to those of her father. 

For example, during the Brett Kavanaugh Supreme Court hearings, Porter was tweeting about the hypocrisy of Republicans decrying Hillary Clinton's email scandal but ignoring Kavanaugh's assault allegations. During the hearings, she tweeted, "That ain't irony, it's misogyny," (per Daily Mail UK) referencing the obsessions of Republicans and their supporters. 

Porter's evident disdain for Kavanaugh's SCOTUS appointment isn't just a dig at the justice. Kavanaugh's appointment became a point of pride for Mitch. He even went so far as to say it was his biggest career achievement of all. "It's hard to judge your own legacy, but I can say this: I think it's the single most important thing I've been involved in in my career," McConnell said after the confirmation, per the Courier-Journal.