Senator Mitch McConnell will be stepping down from his role as Senate Republican leader in November, according to multiple media reports.
McConnell, who turned 82 last week, is the longest-serving Senate leader in history. The Senator plans to serve out the remainder of his term, which ends in Jan. 2027.
McConnell is announcing the decision in a speech on the Senate floor on Wednesday. The news was first reported by the Associated Press, which obtained a copy of McConnell’s prepared remarks.
“One of life’s most underappreciated talents is to know when it’s time to move on to life’s next chapter,” McConnell says in prepared remarks. “So I stand before you today … to say that this will be my last term as Republican leader of the Senate.”
“As I have been thinking about when I would deliver some news to the Senate, I always imagined a moment when I had total clarity and peace about the sunset of my work,” McConnell continued. “A moment when I am certain I have helped preserve the ideals I so strongly believe. It arrived today.”
Aides for McConnell insisted to the AP that his departure from his leadership position was unrelated to his health. The Kentucky senator has been under scrutiny after two public episodes where he briefly froze while speaking. The Senator also had a fall last year which resulted in a concussion.
While McConnell did not give a specific reason for stepping down from his post, he noted that “this has been a particularly difficult time for my family.”
“We tragically lost Elaine’s younger sister Angela, just a few weeks ago,” McConnell said referring to his wife’s sister. “When you lose a loved one, particularly at a young age, there’s a certain introspection that accompanies the grieving process.”
McConnell previously promised to remain Senate GOP leader through the end of the current Congress in early 2025.
However, the senator has a complicated history with former President Donald Trump, the likely 2024 GOP presidential nominee. Trump has said that he wants to remove McConnell as leader, along with other GOP rivals.
