Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Thursday announced that he is not seeking reelection in 2026, bringing an end to the longest-serving Senate leader’s political career.
McConnell, one of the leading and most impactful GOP figures of the past half-century, revealed his decision in a floor speech in the chamber where he has served since 1985.
“Seven times, my fellow Kentuckians have sent me to the Senate,” McConnell said.
“Every day in between I’ve been humbled by the trust they’ve placed in me to do their business here. Representing our commonwealth has been the honor of a lifetime. I will not seek this honor an eighth time. My current term in the Senate will be my last.”
McConnell said that he made the decision last year.
The wind-down to McConnell’s final years began when he revealed almost exactly a year ago that he would step aside as leader after leading the Senate GOP for 18 years — a record for any Senate party leader in U.S. history. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) won a close fight to be his successor in November.
The announcement also comes on his 83rd birthday, which he noted from the outset of his speech, saying he thought it was appropriate.
Roughly one-third of the Senate’s Republicans and a half-dozen Democrats sat in to listen to the address, with the chamber’s walls on the GOP side being lined by McConnell staffers. He received a standing ovation at its conclusion.
He will serve through the end of his term, meaning he will have been in office for 42 years when he departs.
In that time, he shepherded Senate Republicans through scores of political fights, including those that led to a 6-3 conservative majority on the Supreme Court, cut taxes and kept the nation from fiscal calamity.
“Thanks to Ronald Reagan’s determination, the work of strengthening American hard power was well underway when I arrived in the Senate,” McConnell said in the prepared remarks. “But since then, we’ve allowed that power to atrophy. And today, a dangerous world threatens to outpace the work of rebuilding it. So, lest any of our colleagues still doubt my intentions for the remainder of my term: I have some unfinished business to attend to.”
McConnell’s recent years, however, have been checkered by medical issues, including multiple freezes in front of reporters ahead of the 2022 midterm elections and multiple falls. The most recent occurred earlier this month when he fell twice, forcing him to use a wheelchair to navigate the Capitol complex.
He also has seen a remaking of Republicanism throughout the past decade, led by President Trump and MAGA influences that have overtaken much of the party. He emerged as an outspoken opponent of the rise in isolationism, especially during the course of the war in Ukraine.
The two pillars of the modern GOP have had a rocky relationship, at best, that led to a complete rupture after the 2020 election and Jan. 6, 2021, when McConnell notably refused to speak to Trump for years.
They had a temporary detente last summer after McConnell endorsed his bid for the presidency as part of his push to win a majority in the upper chamber and hand that over to his successor. Republicans ended up winning 53 seats, cementing a majority that could carry on in the coming years.
However, that has not carried over into this year as the longtime GOP leader has been more than willing to break with the party as they try to confirm Trump’s slate of nominees. He voted against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., despite all three ultimately winning confirmation.
McConnell was an especially vocal critic of Kennedy given questions about his stance on the polio vaccine. He was stricken by polio as a child and has had trouble navigating stairs throughout his life as a result.
Despite the trouble with Trump in recent years, the two had a prosperous stretch during his first term in office, which was highlighted by the confirmation of three Supreme Court justices. The first of those, Justice Neil Gorsuch, came after McConnell infuriated Democrats by refusing to confirm then-Judge Merrick Garland to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia before the 2016 election.
The final one, Justice Amy Coney Barrett, was approved to replace the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in breakneck speed before the 2020 election.
McConnell was also at the helm for the GOP tax cut law that was passed in 2017. Those are up at the end of this year, with Republicans intent on making those permanent and potentially going further.
The ex-GOP leader was also known as a political tactician who has remade parts of the party machinery. A hallmark was his decision following the 2012 elections for Republican groups to play in primaries in order to keep problematic candidates from carrying the party’s torch in November only to lose due to self-inflicted wounds. This change helped lead the GOP to retake the majority in 2014 for the first time in eight years.
Updated at 12:24 p.m.
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