Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has reached out to his presumed successor, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, saying that he hoped they could work together "to get things done" in Washington.
In a statement, according to
Mediaite, Reid said, "I'd like to congratulate Sen. McConnell, who will be the new Senate Majority Leader. The message from voters is clear: They want us to work together. I look forward to working with Sen. McConnell to get things done for the middle class."
McConnell's resounding victory in Kentucky over Democratic challenger Alison Lundergan Grimes started the GOP wave on election night.
Democrats had hoped to punish McConnell for his fierce opposition to Obama's agenda. Instead, his campaign team succeeded in linking Grimes to Obama, whose job approval numbers in the state were stuck in the low 30s.
McConnell's strategy was encapsulated by his campaign slogan: "Obama needs Grimes, and Kentucky needs Mitch McConnell."
His victory, combined with the GOP's success in grabbing the Senate majority, means that McConnell is now considered the presumptive choice to be the next Senate majority leader in January.
Reid's spokesman Adam Jentleson acknowledged in a Twitter message that Democrats were given a thrashing by the GOP, while poking fun at Republican Scott Brown, who was defeated in New Hampshire by Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, according to
The Hill.
"The fact that we got our butts kicked up and down the block only makes it 'more' hilarious that Scott Brown lost," wrote Jentleson with the hashtag "smallvictories."
Brown was one of the few Republican losses in close races on a night of joy for the GOP.
Brown had moved to New Hampshire after he was defeated in Massachusetts by Sen. Elizabeth Warren in 2012. He had launched a challenge against Shaheen, a popular former governor and state senator, in April.