Exclusive: Merchants of chaos. Kelly resigns as Senate Minority Leader. Harding elected to replace.

Senate Republicans forced their leader, Kevin Kelly, to resign Friday and replaced him with Stephen Harding, a first term member of the upper chamber from the 30th District, Daily Ructions has learned. In a curious decision, Kelly made plea for his colleagues’ support and they declined to give it to him in a stunning rebuke.

The move came three weeks after Kelly fired controversial chief of staff John Healey a year after hiring him. Johnny Angel, as he is known from a video introduced at a federal criminal trial, may return to the job he lost. That would be good news for Speaker Matt Ritter, his top staff members and some local golf courses.

Several of the 12 members of the dwindling Senate Republican caucus face ferocious challenges in this year’s November election. Fractures among the diminishing Republicans, which includes Q-Anon supporter Eric Berthel, will make holding those seats more difficult.

One of the short-term winners today may be the caucus’s inveterate pot stirrer, Heather Somers. The Groton Republican is talented at fomenting dissent but not in building the trust of her colleagues. There can be no other explanation for Republican senators passing over Somers, in her fourth term, for a first term member who previously served in the House.

Senate Republicans are straining to put a brave face on the upheaval they sowed. Harding and his six supporters may soon discover that five members of a dozen member laughingstock caucus can make nearly as much trouble as the other seven.

Jack Shannon remains.

Published February 16, 2024.