‘Star Trek’ Actor George Takei ‘Tempted’ To Take On Mitch McConnell For Senate Seat

Is there anyone who can dislodge Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell?

McConnell, the longest-serving U.S. Senator from Kentucky, has been the target of criticism for his unwavering support for President Donald Trump. Democrats accuse McConnell of turning a blind eye to Trump’s alleged misadventures in office, while also being an enabler of his more extreme policy proposals. The senator is not known to have chided Trump for his campaign rhetoric, and since he came to office, McConnell has hardly confronted the president on any matter important to congressional Democrats. As recently as April, The New York Times accused McConnell of having learned to play by Trump’s rules.

All of this has led to a bitter feeling among many Democratic lawmakers and voters, who believe that McConnell’s long stint in the Senate has made him impervious to the tribulations of common Americans. To this end, dislodging the longest-serving Republican Senate leader in history has become somewhat of a holy grail for Democrats, but there is no one in sight who quite has the confidence of undertaking this uphill battle.

But perhaps those questions have been answered now, as Star Trek star George Takei, popular for his role as USS Enterprise pilot Hikaru Sulu, tweeted that he is considering moving to McConnell’s native state in an effort to beat him to the Senate.

“I’m tempted to move to Kentucky just to run against Mitch McConnell,” Takei tweeted Thursday.

.@GeorgeTakei tweeted Thursday that he's "tempted" to move to Kentucky just to run against the Kentucky senator and Senate Majority Leader.#DitchMitch https://t.co/rAPOf5dIs5

— Democratic Coalition (@TheDemCoalition) May 24, 2019

Although not quite the career politician, George Takei is known for his left-leaning activism and has been an active figure in state and local politics. He has been a vocal critic of the Trump administration and often shares humorous commentary on politics through social media, where he has amassed a great following over the years. His tweet where he said that he is considering moving to Kentucky to challenge McConnell received more than 79,000 likes at the time of writing.

Even so, most people familiar with Takei’s personality believe that the actor/activist made the tweet in jest. Social media users noted that Takei’s tweet is representative of how desperate Americans — and particularly Democrats — have become in hopes of removing Mitch McConnell from office. The fact that an 82-year-old celebrity activist has a better chance of defeating McConnell than any Democrat is a cause for concern, some social media users argued on Reddit.

But if he were to actually challenge McConnell, George Takei would know that he would need some of his Star Trek heroism, seeing as the Senate Majority leader has not been defeated since he was first elected to the Senate in 1984 by defeating Walter “Dee” Huddleston.