Mitch McConnell to step down from Senate leadership | AP News
By: MICHAEL TACKETT (AP News)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
WASHINGTON (AP) — Mitch McConnell, the longest-serving Senate leader in history who maintained his power in the face of dramatic convulsions in the Republican Party for almost two decades, will step down from that position in November.
McConnell, who turned 82 last week, was set to announce his decision Wednesday in the well of the Senate, a place where he looked in awe from its back benches in 1985 when he arrived and where he grew increasingly comfortable in the front row seat afforded the party leaders.
"One of life's most underappreciated talents is to know when it's time to move on to life's next chapter," he said in prepared remarks obtained by The Associated Press. "So I stand before you today ... to say that this will be my last term as Republican leader of the Senate."
His decision punctuates a powerful ideological transition underway in the Republican Party, from Ronald Reagan's brand of traditional conservatism and strong international alliances, to the fiery, often isolationist populism of former President Donald Trump.
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McConnell said he plans to serve out his Senate term, which ends in January 2027, "albeit from a different seat in the chamber." Aides said McConnell's announcement about the leadership post was unrelated to his health. The Kentucky senator had a concussion from a fall last year and two public episodes where his face briefly froze while he was speaking.
"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 said in his prepared remarks. "A moment when I am certain I have helped preserve the ideals I so strongly believe. It arrived today."
The senator had been under increasing pressure from the restive, and at times hostile wing of his party that has aligned firmly with Trump. The two have been estranged since December 2020, when McConnell refused to abide Trump's lie that the election of Democrat Joe Biden as president was the product of fraud.
But while McConnell's critics within the GOP conference had grown louder, their numbers had not grown appreciably larger, a marker of McConnell's strategic and tactical skill and his ability to understand the needs of his fellow Republican senators.
McConnell gave no specific reason for the timing of his decision, which he has been contemplating for months, but he cited the recent death of his wife's youngest sister as a moment that prompted introspection. "The end of my contributions are closer than I'd prefer," McConnell said.
But his remarks were also light at times as he talked about the arc of his Senate career.
He noted that when he arrived in the Senate, "I was just happy if anybody remembered my name." During his campaign in 1984, when Reagan was visiting Kentucky, the president called him "Mitch O'Donnell."
McConnell endorsed Reagan's view of America's role in the world and the senator has persisted in face of opposition, including from Trump, that Congress should include a foreign assistance package that includes $60 billion for Ukraine.
"I am unconflicted about the good within our country and the irreplaceable role we play as the leader of the free world," McConnell said.
Against long odds he managed to secure 22 Republican votes for the package now being considered by the House.
"Believe me, I know the politics within my party at this particular moment in time. I have many faults. Misunderstanding politics is not one of them," McConnell said. "That said, I believe more strongly than ever that America's global leadership is essential to preserving the shining city on a hill that Ronald Reagan discussed. For as long as I am drawing breath on this earth I will defend American exceptionalism."
Trump has pulled the party hard to the ideological right, questioning longtime military alliances such as NATO, international trade agreements and pushing for a severe crackdown on immigration, all the while clinging to the falsehood that the election was stolen from him in 2020.
McConnell and Trump had worked together in Trump's first term, remaking the Supreme Court and the federal judiciary in a far more conservative image, and on tax legislation. But there was also friction from the start, with Trump frequently sniping at the senator.
Their relationship has essentially been over since Trump refused to accept the results of the Electoral College. But the rupture deepened dramatically after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. McConnell assigned blame and responsibility to Trump and said that he should be held to account through the criminal justice system for his actions.
McConnell's critics insist he could have done more, including voting to convict Trump during his second impeachment trial. McConnell did not, arguing that since Trump was no longer in office, he could not be subject to impeachment.
Rather than fade from prominence after the Capitol riot, Trump continued to assert his control over the party, and finds himself on a clear glidepath to the Republican nomination. Other members of the Republican Senate leadership have endorsed Trump. McConnell has not, and that has drawn criticism from other Republican senators.
McConnell's path to power was hardly linear, but from the day he walked onto the Senate floor in 1985 and took his seat as the most junior Republican senator, he set his sights on being the party leader. What set him apart was that so many other Senate leaders wanted to run for president. McConnell wanted to run the Senate. He lost races for lower party positions before steadily ascending, and finally became party leader in 2006 and has won nine straight elections.
He most recently beat back a challenge led by Sen. Rick Scott of Florida last November.
McConnell built his power base by a combination of care and nurturing of his members, including understanding their political imperatives. After seeing the potential peril of a rising Tea Party, he also established a super political action committee, The Senate Leadership Fund, which has provided hundreds of millions of dollars in support of Republican candidates.
Despite the concerns about his health, colleagues have said in recent months that they believe he has recovered. McConnell was not impaired cognitively, but did have some additional physical limitations.
"I love the Senate," he said in his prepared remarks. "It has been my life. There may be more distinguished members of this body throughout our history, but I doubt there are any with more admiration for it."
But, he added, "Father Time remains undefeated. I am no longer the young man sitting in the back, hoping colleagues would remember my name. It is time for the next generation of leadership."
There would be a time to reminisce, he said, but not today.
"I still have enough gas in the tank to thoroughly disappoint my critics and I intend to do so with all the enthusiasm which they have become accustomed."
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He is making farewell remarks now.
On the whole , good riddance.
I have some slight sympathy for him as an aging human being who isnt needed any more.
At least he's smart enough to realize he's getting to old for the job.
Do we know yet if he's also decided he's not going to run for re-election in 2026? It's definitely time for new blood to take charge.
He did stipulate that he would be a 'back-bencher' in congress until his current term ends in 2027*, thereabouts. (I heard him speaking this AM.)
Also, the wording is in paragraph 6 of this article above.
Yep, but nothing about if he's thinking about running for re-election in 2026 or not. At his age and with his recent issues with freezing, I suspect he will hang up his cleats and retire. And I'll gladly admit that calling one's retirement this early can be rather damaging in politics, nobody wants to be frozen out as a lame duck.
He is stepping down from the leadership role (and its probably (and quietly) for health reasons-. The stresses are probably getting to be too much. (Stress kills.) And with that line of reasoning, he may retire (unless he likes the lessening stress of being a back-bencher and just old).
BTW, I don't like Mitch McConnell or feel any sympathy for his position, I am just being nice to him because it is who I really am inside.
The Republican Party is running out of Republicans. Time for a name change.
I was looking for you the other day. I needed help on a Plato quote.
My Greek sucks, which translator did you have in mind?
I can't say it - it would be deleted.
lol
Gee, if only the president had the integrity to realize his senile ass was too old to continue.
We all know that will never happen. It's Weekend at Bernie's in the WH.
Thank you for your service, Mitch. Now there's a saying about a meeting of ass and door that applies.
It's been a long, long, too long time a coming but at least now there's glimpses of a future without Reagan and Clinton ideologies mucking up the works. Some of us commoners out here in the hinterland have been waving red flags since Reagan was inaugurated. And we were appalled when Clinton gifted the country to the financial sector. The country has become more divided and grown much, much weaker since Reagan and Clinton led the country down the wrong track. And, yes, Mitch McConnell did his part to push the US closer to the precipice.
(That does exclude a notable list of accomplices in the downfall of America. But time is short and only one notable is the focus of our attention at the moment.)
Now if Joe Biden would only take the hint.
I just want to add a few words:
Mitch McConnell was the longest serving congressional leader of either party. In his many years of service, he maintained the decorum of the Senate which he loved, though I never understood how or why he couldn't set the bar at 60 votes to change Senate rules. It is far too easy to change them. He did enable President Trump to restore the Supreme Court to a body that served the Constitution.
In the end he had trouble with his health, trouble with his party and trouble with the GOP presumptive nominee. He will step down in November and the country he once served is but a shell of itself.
thanks to the former turd 'president' and folks like Mitch
Here's what he said about who is actually responsible for the attempted insurrection of January 6th:
U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell called Donald Trump "practically and morally responsible" for his supporters' deadly attack on the Capitol:
Yes, I remember. The hosts of MSNBC called it McConnell's finest moment. Evidently it only took 24 hours for them to forget that he ever said it.
Correct. (Not surprising, really).
In addition, I know a lot of Republicans who also forgot it quite quickly . . .
The point is that democrats felt it was his finest moment.
I just wish he’d step down as a senator and do it now! “Put the border aside and focus on money for ukraine.” Fu mcconnell. Any US politician that puts another country ahead of the US needs to step down, now, regardless of party.
If he retires now, the the piece of crap Governor of Kentucky gets to name his replacement. Let’s have the election in November without either candidate having the ability to claim they are the incumbent.