U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell says he won’t run for re-election next year, signalling the end of one of the most consequential Republican political careers in modern history.
The long-serving Kentucky senator made the announcement in a speech from the Senate floor Thursday, which was also his 83rd birthday.
“Seven times, my fellow Kentuckians have sent me to the Senate,” said McConnell, who was first elected to the upper chamber in 1984. “Every day in-between, I have been humbled by the trust they have placed in me to do their business right here.
“I will not seek this honour an eighth time. My current term in the Senate will be my last.”
McConnell said he intends to serve the remainder of his term ending in January 2027.
“To the disappointment of my critics, I’m still here on the job,” he said.
The senator has experienced several health challenges in recent years, including a fall while leaving the Senate chamber earlier this month.
He cited his advancing age when he announced a year ago that he would be stepping down as the Republican leader in the Senate, a position he had held since 2007, following the 2024 U.S. election.
At that time, he had experienced multiple episodes of freezing mid-sentence and other stumbles on Capitol Hill, raising concerns about his health and age.
South Dakota Sen. John Thune, a top McConnell deputy, replaced him as majority leader.
During his record-long tenure as GOP leader, McConnell spearheaded efforts to stymie Democratic president Barack Obama’s legislative agenda while working to get conservative judges confirmed to courts across the country.
One of his most famous moves was to block Obama’s nomination of Merrick Garland to the U.S. Supreme Court in 2016, arguing at the time it would be inappropriate to fill the seat during an election year.
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The vacancy was later filled by Obama’s successor, U.S. President Donald Trump, who would go on to nominate two more Supreme Court justices and solidify a conservative majority on the court. Those appointees included Justice Amy Coney Barrett, whose confirmation McConnell rushed through the Senate weeks before the 2020 election while waving off allegations of hypocrisy.
Although initially supportive of Trump’s presidency during his first term, McConnell broke with Trump after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol amid efforts to overturn the 2020 U.S. election.
McConnell said he held Trump responsible for the attack, but did not vote to convict him in his impeachment, saying it was unconstitutional to impeach a then-former president.
He endorsed Trump in his comeback presidential campaign in 2024, but has been a rare dissenting vote against some of Trump’s cabinet picks this year, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
McConnell cited his childhood battle against polio in voting against Kennedy, who has questioned the science behind vaccine approvals. In response to that vote, Trump called McConnell a “very bitter guy.”
Trump and many of his allies have pointed to McConnell as a figurehead of the “old” Republican party, which has been remade in Trump’s populist image. McConnell has long championed Ronald Reagan’s brand of traditional conservatism and muscular foreign policy, including arming Ukraine in its war against Russia’s invasion, while Trump has long been seen as soft on Moscow.
Amid Trump’s increasingly hostile rhetoric toward Ukraine — while his administration is pursuing talks with Russia about ending the war and repairing ties — McConnell said Thursday he will not waver from his worldview.
“Thanks to Ronald Reagan’s determination, the work of strengthening American hard power was well underway when I arrived in the Senate,” he said in his retirement announcement.
“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 wife, Elaine Chao, served as transportation secretary during Trump’s first term. He referred to his wife as his “ultimate teammate and confidante” in his speech Thursday.
In Kentucky, McConnell’s departure will mark the loss of a powerful advocate and will set off a competitive GOP primary next year for what will now be an open Senate seat.
McConnell, the longest-serving senator ever from Kentucky, ensured that the Bluegrass State received plenty of federal funding. Back home he was a key architect in his party’s rise to power in a state long dominated by Democrats.
—With files from the Associated Press
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