McConnell Grew up in Alabama and spent a lot of his childhood going through treatment for his partially paralyzed left leg due to a polio attack. Because of this treatment, he was able to avoid becoming disabled; however, his costly treatment left his family to struggle economically. He then went off to study Political Science at the University of Louisville and began his political career at age 22 by interning for Senator John Sherman Cooper. Cooper would later become the reason McConnell ran for Senate himself.
McConnell is known for engaging in the obstructionism that slowed down the Senate Majority agenda greatly during the Obama administration. His tactics included insisting that a supermajority vote was needed in Senate history for a bill passing, a refusal to let Obama seat a Supreme Court justice, and obsessive use of the filibuster. A case that demonstrated an extreme degree of obstructionism is in 2012, McConnell proposed a measure to allow a raise to the debt ceiling in hopes that some Democratic senators would oppose this bill (this was an act supported by President Obama). This could be used against the Democrats to illustrate disunity. However, all Democratic senators supported the bill and McConnell was left to filibuster a bill he proposed himself.
McConnel's motivations lie strongly behind partisanship. His career as the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee to Majority Whip and now Majority Leader has transformed him, "from a moderate Republican who supported abortion rights and public employee unions to the embodiment of partisan obstructionism and conservative orthodoxy on Capitol Hill." He also votes in line with President Trump 96% of the time despite previous statements on certain topics. This would lead one to believe he votes with the purpose of supporting a Republican administration.
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