McConnell and many Senate Republican leaders haven't endorsed Trump. They're increasingly alone.

WASHINGTON – As former President Donald Trump closes in on the GOP nomination, Republican leaders in the Senate remain markedly silent on whether they support him.

Asked Tuesday about any plans to endorse Trump, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., emphasized he has "stayed essentially out of it."

"When I change my mind about that I'll let you know," he said, later adding: "We are all watching New Hampshire with great interest." Contacted by USA TODAY Wednesday morning, McConnell's office declined to elaborate on his comments.

He's not alone among the Senate Republican leadership team: GOP Whip Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., Republican Policy Committee Chair Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, and Conference Vice Chair Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.V. also have not yet endorsed the former president.

The leaders are a waning faction in a party quickly coalescing around Trump. About 60% of Republicans in both chambers of Congress have already endorsed him.

And Republican leaders in the House, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., voiced their support well before the first nominating contest in Iowa on Jan. 15. A flood of endorsements followed Trump's landslide victory in the state.

Two additional Republican senators, Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Deb Fischer, R-Neb., announced their endorsement for Trump on Tuesday night after his victory in New Hampshire.

Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel on Tuesday also told Fox News: "I don't see it for Nikki Haley," who pledged to stay in the race after losing to Trump by more than ten percentage points in the Granite State.

"I think she's run a great campaign, but I do think there is a message that is coming out from the voters which is very clear: We need to unite around our eventual nominee which is going to be Donald Trump," McDaniel said.

Polling indicates Trump's victories in Iowa and New Hampshire are likely to continue in the states to come, including in Haley's pivotal home state of South Carolina, which holds its primary next month. If Trump's victories continue, it will only increase pressure on Senate Republicans to publicly support the former president, who prizes loyalty from his party.

Trump and McConnell have a contentious history

McConnell's hesitance to endorse Trump is in keeping with the consistently cool relationship between the longtime Senate Republican leader and the former president.

McConnell did not lend credence to Trump's repeated claims without evidence that he won the 2020 presidential election. Then, after hundreds of Trump's supporters stormed the Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021 and interrupted the certification of the election, McConnell gave a scathing speech on the Senate floor.

"There is no question, none, that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day," he said in February 2021. He added that he believes the riot was a direct consequence of the "false statements, conspiracy theories, and reckless hyperbole that the defeated president kept shouting into the largest megaphone on planet earth."

Trump has directly targeted McConnell as a result. In one jab, Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform that McConnell had a "death wish" because he supported a bill backed by Democrats to keep the government funded. In another hit, he called McConnell a "dumb son of a b----" and a "stone cold loser" at a Republican donor event.

Trump has also targeted McConnell's wife, Elaine Chao, who served as his transpiration secretary during his term in office. Chao resigned from his cabinet after the Capitol attack on Jan. 6, 2021.

Asked in December about Trump's statement that immigrants are "poisoning the blood of our country," McConnell invoked her name in response: "It strikes me that didn’t bother him when he appointed Elaine Chao the secretary of transportation."

And McConnell and Trump continue to have conflicts on policy: As McConnell seeks to build support for a bipartisan deal to pass border measures and additional aid for Ukraine, Trump is urging Johnson to reject the deal unless he gets "EVERYTHING needed to shut down" the southern border.

Mounting pressure on remaining Republicans

Those Republicans who have not yet endorsed Trump face rising pressure to do so as he remains the dominant frontrunner in GOP polls.

Asked Wednesday about Trump's victory and Haley's prospects, most senators who have not yet endorsed Trump didn't indicate they planned to change course yet – though some noted Trump is obviously gaining steam.

"I likely won't" endorse in the primary, said Ernst. Asked whether Haley has a path forward to the Republican nomination, Ernst told USA TODAY: "That's up to those candidates. I think she is a fabulous candidate and a great leader, but I don't know what the polls look like going forward."

Capito said New Hampshire was "a good victory" for Trump, and Thune told reporters that Trump is in "a commanding position."

"I've said all along I'll support the nominee, so if he's the nominee I'll do what I can to help the team win the presidency," Thune said, though he did not confirm whether he would ultimately endorse Trump.

And the former president's staunch defenders in Congress were bullish Wednesday: "The race is going to be Trump-Biden," said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. "The path for (Haley) is very narrow. And after South Carolina it gets even more narrow."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Mitch McConnell, other GOP leaders still haven't endorsed Donald Trump