Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) will announce Thursday that he is not seeking reelection in 2026, bringing an end to the longest-serving Senate leader’s political career.
“Seven times, my fellow Kentuckians have sent me to the Senate,” McConnell will say, according to prepared remarks.
“Every day in between I’ve been humbled by the trust they’ve placed in me to do their business here. 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.”
McConnell, the longest-serving Senate party leader in U.S. history, chose his 83rd birthday to share his decision not to run for another term in Kentucky and to retire when his current term ends. He informed The Associated Press of his decision before he was set to address colleagues in a speech on the Senate floor.
His announcement begins the epilogue of a storied career as a master strategist, one in which he helped forge a conservative Supreme Court and steered the Senate through tax cuts, presidential impeachment trials and fierce political fights.
McConnell, who was Senate Republican leader from 2007 until this year, worked closely with President Trump during his first term to enact tax cuts and confirm judges, including three justices on the Supreme Court.
That led to the reversal of the Roe v. Wade decision in 2022, when a conservative Supreme Court majority struck down the long-standing ruling declaring abortion a constitutional right.
By that time, McConnell and Trump had become rivals, after McConnell torched Trump on the Senate floor over his actions leading up to the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, which forced the evacuation of lawmakers certifying the 2020 election. McConnell notably did not vote for Trump's conviction in his impeachment trial that year over the Jan. 6 incident.
McConnell announced he would no longer serve as leader of the Senate GOP last year.
So far in 2025, he has at times been a voiced of disapproval of some Trump actions. He voted against confirming Pete Hegseth as Defense secretary, Tulsi Gabbard as director of national intelligence and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Health and Human Services secretary.
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The Associated Press contributed.