Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) bid farewell Friday to his tenure as the longest-serving party leader of the chamber, a post he’s held for nearly the past 18 years.

McConnell’s current term, his seventh consecutive, doesn’t expire until early 2027. However, when he returns in January for the new Congress, it will mark the first time since 2007 that he won’t be the ringleader of Senate Republicans.