Why Barack Obama Never Talked To Mitch McConnell on Election Night

2 minute read
Election Night for Senator Mitch McConnell, the senior United States Senator from Kentucky. A member of the Republican Party, he has been the Minority Leader of the Senate since January 3, 2007.
Sen. Mitch McConnell at his election night celebration in Louisville, Ky. on Nov. 4, 2014.Christopher Morris—VII for TIME
By Jay Newton-Small
Updated: | Originally published: ;

President Barack Obama called to congratulate Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell on winning the job of Senate leader between 12:30 and 1 a.m. Wednesday morning. The only problem: By then, McConnell and his wife, former Secretary Elaine Chao, had already left for home and some much needed sleep after a grueling campaign, McConnell aides say.

MORE: See all the election results

The President left a message.

Vice President Joe Biden, by contrast, called about an hour earlier, and was able to get through to his longtime Senate colleague. McConnell aides say they expect he’ll connect with the President later Wednesday and that he’s looking forward to having lunch at the White House on Friday.

This isn’t the first time the Obama White House has struggled to connect with an Election Night phone call, as I reported exclusively in 2011.

On the night that Republicans won control of the House in 2010, the White House Press Office came to a startling realization: They had no contact information for Speaker-to-be John Boehner. In President Obama’s first two years in office, he’d reached out to House Republicans so little that they had no reason to get to know—or even get phone numbers or e-mails for—Boehner’s staff. Democratic National Committee spokesman Brad Woodhouse was asked to call his fishing buddy, Nick Schaper, who was Boehner’s new media director at the time. Schaper gave the appropriate names and numbers to Woodhouse, who then relayed them to Press Secretary Robert Gibbs.

Update from Zeke Miller:

From a White House Official:

Last night the President phoned dozens of House, Senate, Gubernatorial candidates of both parties, and members the House and Senate leadership. The list of those lawmakers he connected with are below, and he is continuing additional calls throughout the day.

Senator Harry Reid

Senator Dick Durbin

Senator Michael Bennet

AR Governor-elect Asa Hutchinson

SD Senator-elect Mike Rounds

WV Senator-elect Shelly Moore Capito

MI Senator-elect Gary Peters

Senator Lindsey Graham

Senator Jim Inhofe

Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz

Leader Nancy Pelosi

Governor-elect Tom Wolf, PA

Senator-elect James Lankford, OK

Senator-elect Tom Cotton, AR

Governor John Kasich

Senator Susan Collins

Senator Ed Markey

Senator Jeff Sessions

Senator Cory Booker

Senator Tim Scott

Senator Al Franken

Senator Mark Pryor

Congressman-elect Seth Moulton

Governor Robert Bentley

Governor Bill Haslam

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