Senator Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) Announced on Thursday that in 2026 he was no re-election and ended the political career of the longest reigning Senate guide.
McConnell, one of the most leading and effective GOP figures in the past half century, unveiled his decision in a floor speech in the chamber in which he has been working since 1985.
“My Kentuckians sent me to the Senate seven times,” said McConnell.
“Every day in between, I was humble from the trust they put up with me to do their business here. The representation of our Commonwealth was the honor of a life. I will not look for this honor for the eighth time; My current term in the Senate will be my last. “
McConnell said he made the decision last year.
The end of McConnell’s last years began when he revealed almost exactly a year ago that after 18 years he would act as a leader-a record for every Senate leader in US history. The majority leader of the Senate, John Thune (Rs.d), won a close struggle for his successor in November.
The announcement also comes to his 83rd birthday, which he found from the start, and said he thought it was appropriate.
About a third of the Republicans of the Senate and half a dozen Democrats sat to hear the address, with the walls of the chamber on the GOP side to be lined by the McConnell employees. He received ovation in his conclusion.
He will serve until the end of his term, which means that he has been in office for 42 years when he leaves.
During this time, he scolded the Republicans of the Senate by numerous political struggles, including those who led to the current conservative majority of the 6: 3 at the Supreme Court and held taxes from the budget calamity.
“Thanks to Ronald Reagan’s determination, the work of strengthening the American hard power was well in action when I arrived in the Senate,” said McConnell in the prepared comments. “But since then we have approved this power of atrophy. And today there is a threatening world to surpass the work of reconstruction. So that one of our colleagues does not still doubt my intentions for the rest of my term: I have some unfinished business to do. “
However, the last years of McConnell have been examined by medical problems, including several freezing in front of reporters before the intermediate elections in 2022 and several falls. The youngest occurred at the beginning of this month when he fell twice and forced him to navigate the Capitol elaborate with a wheelchair.
He has also seen a rewritten of Republicanism in the past ten years, led by President Trump and “Maga” sector, which have overtaken a enormous part of the party. He appeared as a pronounced opponent of the rise in isolationism, especially in the course of the war in Ukraine.
At best, the two pillars of the newfangled GOP had a rocky relationship that led to a complete break after the 2020 elections and on January 6, 2021. After that, McConnell refused to speak to Trump for years.
They had a fleeting relaxation last summer after McConnell has offered its offer for the presidency as part of his advance to win a majority in the upper chamber, and the hand that passed his successor. The Republicans won 53 seats and consolidated a majority that could continue in the coming years.
However, this has not transferred this year because the long -time GOP leader was more than ready to break the party because he is trying to confirm Trump’s cabinet candidate. He voted against Defense Minister Pete Hegseth, Director of the National Secret Services Tulsi Gabbard and Secretary for Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., despite all three ultimately winning confirmation.
McConnell was a particularly clamorous critic of Kennedy because he had questions about his attitude to the Polio vaccine. McConnell was affected by Polio as a child and had difficulty navigating stairs in his life.
Despite the problems with Trump in recent years, the two had a wealthy route during his first term, which was emphasized by the confirmation of three judges of the Supreme Court. The first of it, justice Neil Gorsuch, came after McConnell irate the Democrats by refusing to confirm the judge Merrick Garland at the time as a replacement for the deceased judiciary Antonin Scalia before the 2016 elections.
The last, Justice Amy Coney Barrett, was admitted to replace the deceased judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg before the 2020 elections with Breakneck speed.
McConnell was also at the top for the GOP tax law adopted in 2017. These are at the end of this year until the end of this year.
The ex-gop leader was also known as a political tactician who made parts of the party machinery again. A Hallmark was his decision after the 2012 elections that Republican groups play in primary elections to prevent problematic candidates from wearing the party’s torch in November, only to lose due to self -inflicted wounds. This change helped to recapture the majority for the first time in eight years in 2014.
Updated at 12:24 p.m. EST
