WASHINGTON — The Senate confirmation of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court was vindication for Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who made a risky bet more than a year ago that paid off big time for President Donald Trump and the Republican leader himself.

When Justice Antonin Scalia died in February 2016, McConnell decided immediately that the Senate would not fill the seat until the next president was elected. He stuck to that stance without wavering, ignoring Democratic griping, misgivings from fellow Republicans, and ultimately erroneous predictions that GOP Senate candidates would pay a political price.

Now McConnell, R-Ky., can take credit for allowing Trump to put a young conservative on the court for life, even though it took changing Senate rules to do it.

“No. 1, it’s courageous. No. 2, it’s genius, in that order, because he knew how much criticism he would get,” said Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla.

Democrats and some Republicans predicted dire fallout from McConnell’s divisive Senate rules change that removed the 60-vote filibuster barrier for Supreme Court picks, warning of a more polarized Senate and court over time. But most in the GOP were full of praise for the wily Kentuckian.