Senator Mitch McConnell announces plans to retire

By Andrea Visco

The Kentucky Senator announces he will not seek re-election in 2026 in a speech made on the Senate floor on Feb. 20, his birthday. The Senator has spent eighteen years in the Senate, as both a minority and majority leader, playing a large role in filling courts with conservatives and blocking Democratic agenda items. This includes leading a Republican effort to install conservative jurists during Trump’s first term. He has described his position as “the honor of a lifetime” but “My current term in the Senate will be my last.” He included, “And to the disappointment of my critics, I’m still here on the job.”

Last year, Senator McConnell announced that he would step down from the role but would remain in the Senate, however, after experiencing frequent health issues and falls, one of which required him to temporarily use a wheelchair around the Capitol, many suspected his career was coming to an end.

Previously one of his allies, allowing him to enact his agenda and retain power. Even voting to acquit Trump in his impeachment trial. “Mitch McConnell made a series of bad choices for power that he knew were wrong for the Republican Party, that were wrong for the country,” stated Sarah Longwell, an anti-Trump Republican strategist on “The Bulwark Podcast.” This has changed in recent years, with McConnell voting against three of Trump’s cabinet nominees: Pete Hegseth as defense secretary, Tulsi Gabbard as director of national intelligence and Robert F. Kennedy as health secretary. However, he did vote in favor of Kash Patel as director of the F.B.I.

The opposition to the President’s agenda has made him quite unpopular amongst his Republican colleagues, with many of them expressing indifference towards the Senator’s retirement. Senator Jim Banks stated, “The Republican majority is unified in backing President Trump,” following it up with, “McConnell is the anomaly,” and “It’s a nonfactor.”

Despite his willingness to oppose the President, McConnell expresses optimism towards the administration, “I expect to support most of what this administration is trying to accomplish.” as well as a willingness to comply with the administration in the future, “I’m going to do everything I can to help the new administration be successful.”