McConnell Announces He Won't Run Again

Mitch McConnell said Thursday that he won't seek reelection next year, ending a decades-long tenure as a power broker who championed conservative causes but ultimately ceded ground to the fierce GOP populism of President Trump. The longest-serving Senate party leader in US history chose his 83rd birthday to share his decision to retire when his current term ends, per the AP. His announcement begins the epilogue of a storied career as a master strategist, one in which he helped forge a conservative Supreme Court and steered the Senate through tax cuts, presidential impeachment trials and fierce political fights.

"Seven times, my fellow Kentuckians have sent me to the Senate," McConnell said in prepared remarks. "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." McConnell, first elected in 1984, intends to serve the remainder of his term ending in January 2027, focusing on national defense. "I have some unfinished business to attend to," read his remarks. The Kentuckian has dealt with a series of medical episodes in recent years, including injuries sustained from falls and times when his face briefly froze while he was speaking. His dramatic announcement comes almost a year after his decision to relinquish his leadership post after the November 2024 election.

He's seen his power diminish on a parallel track with both his health and his relationship with Trump, who once praised him as an ally but has taken to criticizing him in caustic terms. McConnell, a diehard adherent to Ronald Reagan's brand of traditional conservatism and muscular foreign policy, increasingly found himself out of step with a GOP shifting toward the fiery, often isolationist populism espoused by Trump. 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. Kentucky Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear has said he has no interest in the Senate, though he is widely viewed as a contender for higher office. (More Mitch McConnell stories.)