Sen. Mitch McConnell, 83, announced on Thursday that he will not be seeking reelection to the Senate.
‘Seven times, my fellow Kentuckians have sent me to the Senate,’ McConnell said on the Senate floor.
‘Every day in between I’ve been humbled by the trust they’ve placed in me to do their business right here,’ he said.
Representing our commonwealth has been the honor of a lifetime. I will not seek this honor an eighth time. My current term in the Senate will be my last,’ he continued.
McConnell, the longest-serving GOP Senate leader, first entered the Senate in 1985, but he has been battling a string of health issues and multiple falls in recent years.
He also has earned the ire of Donald Trump and his MAGA supporters after a years-long feud.
McConnell voted against three of Trump’s top Cabinet picks in recent weeks: Pete Hegseth, Tulsi Gabbard and Robert Kennedy Jr.
He was the only Republican to vote against the confirmation of Gabbard and RFK Jr., spurring MAGA loyalists to call for his resignation.
The Kentucky senator announced last year he would not seek to remain the Republican leader. It paved the way for a new GOP Senate leader for the first time since 2007.
But McConnell did not indicate what his future plans might be as he latest six-year term is set to expire in 2026.
McConnell has been spotted being pushed in a wheelchair by aides after his most recent fall on Capitol Hill.
A series of freezing episodes caught on camera in the summer of 2023 also raised questions about his ability to seek another term.
McConnell made a name for himself as a tough opponent to President Obama during his two terms in office where he blocked key aspects of the Obama agenda and refused to hold hearings for the president’s Supreme Court nominee ahead of the 2016 election.
When President Trump took office for his first term, McConnell was at times an ally and other times foe as the pair worked to pass legislation including the president’s 2017 tax law.
But the president took his frustrations out on the GOP Senate leader when he did not get his way in Congress.
Trump lobbed some of his nastiest attacks against McConnell after the certification of the 2020 election for President Biden further making McConnell a target of the MAGA movement.
The president’s wrath has continued into his second term as McConnell has voted against some of his controversial nominees and criticized his stance on tariffs.
Trump told reporters he should not have been GOP leader and called McConnell a bitter man just last week.
McConnell took a moment during his speech on Thursday to talk about the importance of checks and balance in the federal government.
McConnell’s retirement from the Senate paves the way for a new senator from Kentucky, and several Republicans appear to be gearing up for bids.