In a speech on the U.S. Senate floor on Wednesday, Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said he will step down from the role of leading the Senate Republicans in November. He has the record of the longest serving Senate party leader. McConnell gave a copy of his prepared remarks to AP, which first reported the news.
“One of life’s most underappreciated talents is to know when it’s time to move on to life’s next chapter,” McConnell said. “So I stand before you today … to say that this will be my last term as Republican leader of the Senate.
“If you would have told me 40 years later that I would stand before you as the longest serving Senate leader in American history, frankly, I would have thought you’d lost your mind,” he said.
“I turned 82 last week and the end of my contributions are closer than I’d prefer,” he said.
McConnell will remain in office, he said, until his term ends in January of 2027.
McConnell has had a number of health challenges this past year, including small-but-visible seizures of some sort, while speaking to the media.
