Mitch McConnell will retire at end of term. What to know about the longtime KY senator
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Mitch McConnell won’t run again in 2026
Longtime Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell will not seek reelection next year, he announced Thursday, ending a decades-long run as one of the most powerful Republicans in the country. McConnell, first elected in 1984, is the longest-serving Senate party leader in U.S. history.
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Longtime Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell announced Thursday he won’t seek reelection in 2026, ending his run as one of the most powerful lawmakers in the U.S.
McConnell, a Republican first elected in 1984, is the longest-serving Senate party leader in U.S. history. He plans to serve out the remainder of his term until it ends in 2027.
Here are other facts about the Kentucky congressman:
- McConnell, 83, was born in Tuscomba, Ala., and moved to Kentucky when he was 13.
- He began his political career as a deputy U.S. assistant attorney general under President Gerald Ford from 1974 to 1975. He also served as the Jefferson County judge-executive from 1978 until being elected to the U.S. Senate in 1984.
- He was the first Republican to win a statewide Kentucky race since 1968, according to his Senate biography.
- McConnell was first reelected in 1990. He would go on to be reelected five more times.
McConnell became the party leader in the Senate in 2006. He served as either majority or minority leader up until 2024. He stepped down from the role in November.
- McConnell began having public health issues in 2023. Since then he has tripped, frozen or fallen multiple times.
- McConnell previously called the decision to block outgoing Democratic President Barack Obama’s Supreme Court pick the “single-most consequential” of his career. He also said the decision led to the overturning of the landmark abortion rights case Roe. V. Wade.
- McConnell and President Donald Trump have not always seen eye to eye. McConnell was one of 19 Senate Republicans who voted in 2021 for then-President Joe Biden’s $1 trillion federal infrastructure bill, describing it as “a godsend” for money that it allocated to repair and replace aging roads and bridges. An angry Trump blasted McConnell for that vote and called him “the Old Crow.” McConnell has called Trump, “stupid as well as being ill-tempered,” a “despicable human being” and a “narcissist,” according to the Associated Press.
- Potential candidates to run in McConnell’s place include Sixth Congressional District Rep. Andy Barr and former Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron.
This story was originally published February 20, 2025 at 12:29 PM.
