By David Morgan

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell stated Monday that Republicans should be focusing on the alleged crimes of Democrats in 2022’s congressional elections rather than former President Donald Trump. He said the campaign shouldn’t “be about the past.”

The top Senate Republican spoke out in Covington (Kentucky) to say that his party’s victory in Virginia and New Jersey elections last week showed voter concern about President Joe Biden, and the direction the country is headed under his Democratic allies.

“The key to ’22 is to have a discussion with the American people about how they feel about the new administration and the Democratic Congress and what they’re doing,” said McConnell, who argued that voters reject the $1.75 trillion social-policy and climate-change legislation that Democrats are now trying to pass in the House of Representatives and Senate.

He said that Trump will not be kept at arm’s reach if the Republican strategy was to do so next year.

The election results will establish which party controls Congress in the period leading up to the 2024 Presidential Election. Republican hopes of reclaiming majorities in both chambers have surged since last Tuesday https://www.reuters.com/world/us/republicans-jolt-biden-with-win-virginia-close-race-new-jersey-2021-11-03, when Republican Glenn Youngkin won Virginia’s governorship.

Youngkin’s win has raised concerns about Trump’s future, as he falsely claimed that the 2020 election was stolen by massive voter fraud.

Virginia Republican, who had voted for Trump over Biden only one year prior to the election, won back some moderates by distancing him from Trump.

Trump appears unlikely to be forgotten. Over the weekend, he lashed out at McConnell and other Republicans who supported the $1 trillion infrastructure https://www.reuters.com/world/us/bidens-sweeping-infrastructure-social-spending-bills-finally-get-vote-2021-11-05 bill that passed the House on Friday after months of delay, calling them “RINOs” – a term meaning “Republican in name only.”

McConnell was one of the 19 Republicans that voted in favor of the Senate bill Monday.