U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) takes an elevator near his office at the Capitol on November 18, 2024 in Washington, DC.
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WASHINGTON — Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., the longest-serving Senate leader in history, announced Thursday on his 83rd birthday that he won’t seek re-election next year, bringing an end to his four-decade career in the chamber.
McConnell, first elected in 1984, climbed his way up to the Senate Republican leader position in 2007 and remained there until early 2025, serving during four administrations in the majority and the minority.
He will leave behind a complex legacy and a party that has transformed away from traditional conservatism into one led by President Donald Trump, with whom the Kentucky Republican has long had a frosty relationship.
“Representing our commonwealth has been the honor of my lifetime. I will not seek this honor an eighth time,” McConnell said on the floor. “My current term in the Senate will be my last.”
McConnell supported Trump’s presidential bids in 2016 and 2020. He made a crucial decision in early 2021 to vote to acquit Trump on impeachment charges of inciting an insurrection, even as he blasted Trump as “practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day,” calling his actions a “disgraceful dereliction of duty.” Despite his misgivings, he went on to endorse Trump for president again 2024 after he clinched the Republican nomination for a third successive election.
McConnell’s most significant actions came during his stint as Senate majority leader from 2015 to 2021.
In 2016, he infuriated Democrats by making the extraordinary decision to deny a hearing or a vote to President Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nominee for a vacancy created by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia. The move, celebrated by many conservatives, paved the way for Trump to appoint Justice Neil Gorsuch.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky, speaks during a news conference at the US Captiol on November 6, 2024, in Washington, DC.
Allison Robbert | Afp | Getty Images
McConnell oversaw Trump’s three Supreme Court confirmations during his first term, as part of a sweeping set of 234 judges inked over those four years — most of them young conservatives who will serve for generations — which he has regarded as his proudest achievement.
McConnell also shepherded Trump’s 2017 tax law through the Senate, which became Trump’s signature legislative achievement during his first term. He has also served on the Appropriations Committee for years and unapologetically used his positions to steer federal funds to his home state of Kentucky.
Prior to that, McConnell developed a reputation as “Dr. No” during the Obama era, marshaling his caucus to unified opposition to much of the president’s agenda, most notably the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, in 2009 and 2010. Seven years later, he sought to undo the law when, in a now-iconic image, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., shocked him with an unexpected thumbs down on the Senate floor to sink one of McConnell’s top priorities.
That “Dr. No” image softened somewhat under President Joe Biden, when McConnell blessed numerous bipartisan deals — to expand infrastructure spending, invest in semiconductors through the CHIPS and Science Act, among other measures that became law.
In recent years, McConnell has dedicated his energy to foreign policy and seeking to protect robust American involvement to shape global affairs and preserve the post-World War II order. It’s an area where he has broken with Trump, whose “America First” vision calls for less involvement in global affairs. The two have most notably disagreed on U.S. assistance to Ukraine.
McConnell will also be remembered as a fierce defender of the 60-vote filibuster threshold to pass most legislation, a tool that was once used rarely but became normalized during his first tenure as minority leader. He resisted Trump’s first-term demands to eliminate the 60-vote threshold.
McConnell has battled some health issues in recent years, including several freeze-ups on camera, and a recent fall that caused him to work from a wheelchair in the Senate. Between that and his alienation from Trump’s “MAGA” movement that had taken over the party, McConnell’s retirement has long been anticipated.
