Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) will be stepping down as the Senate’s top Republican this fall, bringing an end to a record tenure in the position.
McConnell confirmed on Wednesday that he plans to step down in November and this will be his “last term as Republican leader in the Senate.”
He reminisced on his accomplishments in the upper chamber since arriving in 1984, saying that if he had been told then he would serve as the longest-serving Senate leader 40 years later, he’d have thought “you’d lost your mind.”
“I turned 82 last week,” McConnell said on the Senate floor. “The end of my contributions are closer than I’d prefer.”
“One of life’s most underappreciated talents is to know when it’s time to move on to life’s next chapter,” the Senate minority leader continued.
The Kentucky Republican became the party’s top leader in the Senate in 2006 and has won nine straight elections to maintain his position since then. Last year, McConnell beat Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL), who was challenging him for the party leadership position.
Despite stepping down from leadership, McConnell said he is “not going anywhere” and would continue to serve as a Kentucky senator, “albeit from a different seat, and I’m actually looking forward to that.”
He added that it was time for the next generation of leadership, adding that elections will take place in November, with the new leader taking the helm in January.
Senate Republicans, have been under increased tensions in recent months, particularly over McConnell’s unrelenting support of Ukraine and the failed foreign aid and border security bill that caused GOP senators to rebuke leadership for being “out of touch” with conservative voters.
Many hard-liners such as Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) have floated ideas for McConnell to step down in recent weeks, particularly as the party weighs the frigid relationship between the Senate minority leader and former President Donald Trump. Cruz recently said there was “bad blood” between McConnell and Trump but that whether or not the Kentucky Republican runs for reelection is a “decision for Mitch to make.”
However, McConnell noted on the Senate floor he will not back down from a fight against any opposition.
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“I still have enough gas in my tank to thoroughly disappoint my critics, and I intend to do so with all the enthusiasm with which they’ve become accustomed,” McConnell said.
McConnell received a standing ovation from those on the floor on Wednesday, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), who came to shake his hand. On the Senate floor, Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) thanked McConnell for devoting his life to public service for “all the right reasons,” adding there would be more time at a later date for all senators to honor McConnell.
