WASHINGTON D.C. — For nearly forty years, Mitch McConnell has served in the U.S. Senate, earning a reputation for using the chamber’s often-arcane rules and procedures for political advantage. 

Six months ago, he returned to his role as Minority Leader but he’s still been able to influence the Senate’s agenda.

In January, the stunning upset in Georgia that led to Democrats capturing two Senate seats returned Kentucky's senior senator to a familiar role. 

“By the way, I've been the Majority Leader and I've been the Minority Leader. If you're a football fan, I've been the offensive coordinator and I've been the defensive coordinator. Offense is better,” he told a crowd in Murray, Kentucky this week.

Now McConnell is Minority Leader in a 50/50 Senate, with Vice President Kamala Harris as the tiebreaker.

In May, he said 100% of his focus is to block President Joe Biden's agenda. 

“What's unique about McConnell is his willingness to boast about obstructing in the Senate, whereas usually the Democrats have been a little quieter about what they were up to. Having him so publicly and sort of gleefully block the Democrats adds to the pressure to change the Senate rules to stop obstruction,” said Stephen Voss, a political-science professor at the University of Kentucky. 

Earlier this year, McConnell delayed the Democratic takeover of committee chairmanships, relenting only after two moderate Democrats pledged they would oppose ending the filibuster, the 60 vote threshold needed to pass most bills.

Then he delayed the start of Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial until after Trump left office, allowing some Republicans to say the trial no longer was necessary.

And in June, he leaned on Republican Senators to block a bipartisan commission to investigate the January 6 insurrection.

“McConnell saw the commission really as just an opportunity for the Democrats to drag out the sort of backlash against the GOP for what happened. Preventing the commission takes away one of the main platforms the Democrats would have had for reminding people all year about what happened at the end of the last presidential election,” said Voss.

For the past six months, in reprising his role as Minority Leader, McConnell has also managed to quietly distance himself from Trump in a way that hasn't rattled the Republican establishment, although it has left the former President angry.

“McConnell had the clout, the experience to stand up to Donald Trump. And it's not clear the next Republican leader in the Senate would have that ability to resist,” said Voss.

Meanwhile. his office continues to tout the federal dollars rolling into the state — playing up his role as the only lawmaker not from New York or California to serve in one of the top four leadership posts in Congress.

Paris Dennard, a spokesman for the Republican National Committee, said, “What we have seen from Sen. Mitch McConnell is A-plus work.”

Now the focus is on whether McConnell will support a bipartisan infrastructure package — or if he'll work to deny Biden a big victory, an outcome that could boost McConnell’s push to regain control of the Senate next year.