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Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky announced on Thursday he will not be seeking reelection next year at the end of his term, bringing to a close a four-decade career in the Senate.
“Representing our commonwealth has been the honor of my lifetime. I will not seek this honor an eighth time,” McConnell said in a floor speech. “My current term in the Senate will be my last.”
The Republican, who made the announcement on his 83rd birthday, was the longest-serving Senate party leader in U.S. history, spending nearly 20 years leading the GOP conference in the upper house, including a stint from 2015 to 2021 as Senate Majority Leader.
McConnell, first elected in 1984, spent his final years in office clashing with Donald Trump, one of the rare members of the party to split with the GOP standard-bearer.
The senator was the sole Republican to oppose the Trump administration’s nominations of Tulsi Gabbard to be Director of National Intelligence and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as head of the Department of Health and Human Services.
McConnell also opposed the nomination of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
These stances earned fierce condemnations from Trump, who earlier this month accused McConnell of letting “the Republican party go to hell.”
“If I didn’t come along, the Republican party wouldn’t even exist right now,” Trump said. “Mitch McConnell never really had it. He had an ability to raise money because of his position as leader, which anybody could do.”
This is a breaking news story and will be updated with new information.
