Sen Mitch McConnell announces he will not run for re-election
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McConnell Announces Senate Retirement After Four-Decade Career
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Above: US Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) speaks to the press following the Senate weekly luncheons on Jan. 31, 2024 in Washington, DC. Image copyright: Kevin Dietsch/Staff/Getty Images News via Getty Images
The Facts
Mitch McConnell, the longest-serving Senate party leader in US history, announced on his 83rd birthday that he will not seek re-election in 2026, marking the end of his current term as his last after serving Kentucky since 1985.
The announcement follows McConnell stepping down from Senate GOP leadership in 2024, a position he held since 2007, being succeeded by South Dakota Sen. John Thune. McConnell intends to complete his current term ending in Jan. 2027.
In his retirement speech, McConnell called serving "an honor of a lifetime" while expressing concerns about America's declining global power. He stated that the remainder of his term would be focused on defending the Senate's role in dealing with matters "of great consequence."
The Spin
Conservative narrative
McConnell was the last of his generation — a conservative stalwart and masterful power broker, he reshaped the Senate and the country at large while vociferously defending the institution from attacks on the left and right. The Senate will miss the principled voice of a man who stood up against the worst excesses of Trumpism while never compromising on his Republican values.
Democratic narrative
McConnell's duplicitous maneuvers undermined democratic norms and ensnarled the Senate in political gridlock. His use and abuse of the filibuster, hypocritical ramming through of Amy Coney Barrett's nomination, and enabling of Trump will leave him remembered as a partisan, not an elder statesman. The current dysfunctional state of Washington will be his legacy.
Pro-Trump narrative
Despite Pres. Trump's historic mandate, Mitch McConnell revealed his true colors as a Republican in Name Only (RINO) who refused to back the president's sweeping agenda of reform, such as voting against his cabinet picks. McConnell was a prime example of the sort of Washington insider Trump made his career opposing, and it's high time he finally be replaced.
