"Thatโs a mandate to flip the switch.โThe idea of a Biden mandate, though, is relative, certainly embraced by Democrats who want to push ahead with his agenda.
California Rep. Kevin McCarthy, the House's Republican leader, said the election โwas a mandate against socialism," stepping up the relentless GOP attacks, even though Biden is a centrist Democrat.
Biden comes to the presidency like few in recent history, with a rare mix of experience but also a potentially divided Congress.
Whether McConnell emerges in the new Congress as majority or minority leader with a narrowly divided Senate, the longest serving Republican leader in history will have great leverage over legislation that arrives on Biden's desk.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York and even McCarthy will have oversize roles because of the changed makeup of the new Congress.