Republicans expect a competitive GOP primary race to fill his seat in 2026.
A fter seven terms representing Kentucky in the U.S. Senate, former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced on Thursday that he will not run for reelection in 2026, marking an end to one of the most consequential political careers in modern political history and setting the stage for a competitive GOP primary to fill his seat.
He plans to serve the rest of his current term, which ends in January 2027. “The Senate is still equipped for work of great consequence,” he said. “And to the disappointment of my critics, I’m still here on the job.”
McConnell hinted in his retirement speech that he plans to make good on his April 2024 pledge to spend his remaining days in the Senate — where he has served since 1985 — “fighting back against the isolationist movement in my own party.” After a decades-long career in Washington that earned him the coveted title of longest-serving Senate leader in American history, McConnell will now carry out this mission from his new perch as chairman of the Senate’s Defense Subcommittee on Appropriations.
“Thanks to Ronald Reagan’s determination, the work of strengthening American hard power was well under way when I arrived in the Senate,” McConnell said in his retirement announcement on the Senate floor on Thursday, which fell on his 83rd birthday. “But since then, we’ve allowed that power to atrophy. And today, a dangerous world threatens to outpace the work of rebuilding it. So, lest any of our colleagues still doubt my intentions for the remainder of my term: I have some unfinished business to attend to.”
His renewed commitment to preserving a traditionally hawkish Republican foreign policy in the model of Ronald Reagan comes after McConnell spent his final months in leadership clashing with the rightmost flank of the Senate GOP conference that is far more skeptical of U.S. interventionism overseas, particularly on the issue of continued U.S. support for Ukraine
He is expected to spend the rest of his time in the chamber pushing back against some of the more controversial national security decisions made by the president, with whom he has hardly spoken since the 2021 Capitol riot, even though he voted to acquit him during Trump’s second impeachment.
“He’s always — commendably — stood up for what he believes,” Senator Todd Young (R., Ind.) told reporters on Thursday.
A master tactician known for choosing his words carefully and obstructing Senate Democrats’ legislative efforts, McConnell has spent recent years picking battles with the MAGA wing of the party on national security issues. Less than a month into Trump’s second term, McConnell has already voted against three of the president’s cabinet picks — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
“There’s no love lost between Mitch and President Trump, and no one is hiding that,” said Senator Ted Cruz (R., Texas), a longtime thorn in McConnell’s side who acknowledged on Thursday his own “well-documented” disagreements with his Kentucky colleague over the years.
And yet even some his harshest GOP critics were quick to acknowledge on Thursday his long list of conservative achievements, which include passing the 2017 Trump tax cuts, successfully shepherding three conservative Supreme Court justices through their Senate confirmation processes, and thwarting former President Barack Obama’s efforts to fill a Supreme Court vacancy near the end of his second term.
A survivor of childhood polio, McConnell has also faced various health challenges as of late, including a fall in a restaurant in March 2023 that caused a concussion and required hospitalization, multiple press conference freeze-ups later that year, and two falls in the U.S. Capitol earlier this month that have required him to spend recent days in a wheelchair. Senators tell National Review privately that his hearing has diminished significantly in recent years.
Today’s Senate retirement announcement comes roughly one year after McConnell announced on the Senate floor in February 2024 that he would not seek another term as leader, laying the groundwork for a competitive race to succeed him. McConnell’s former whip, South Dakota Senator John Thune, came out on top in that fight, batting away challenges from former whip John Cornyn (R., Texas) as well as Rick Scott (R., Fla), who mounted an unsuccessful leadership bid against McConnell after the Senate GOP’s lackluster 2022 midterm cycle.
Thursday’s retirement announcement did not come as a surprise to his GOP colleagues. “He stepped down as leader last year, and I think this was the natural next step,” Cruz said.
Cruz declined Thursday to litigate his long-running disagreements with McConnell, instead praising him for his immense success in guiding Supreme Court Justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett through their Senate-confirmation processes during Trump’s first term. “All of us are on a journey of life, and Mitch has a lot to be proud of. Most notably, a legacy of extraordinary judges — constitutionalists — who President Trump has nominated, the Senate has confirmed, and that is an issue Mitch cares deeply about, and he’s delivered real results on.”
Reflecting on the former leader’s seven-term tenure inside the U.S. Capitol on Thursday, Senator Roger Marshall (R., Kan.) told NR that one of the first things he did after being elected to the U.S. Senate was read McConnell’s book The Long Game. The autobiography gave Marshall a better perspective on the Kentucky senator’s consistent goal over the years — protecting and expanding the Senate GOP majority.
“Constantly, I could see him guiding the party through that,” Marshall said, adding that his “ability to raise money and help us through the tough races” was “legendary, too.”
Taking flak from Trump and the rightmost flank of his conference has been par for the course with McConnell, who joked in his leadership retirement announcement last year that this lonely road does not bother him: “I still have enough gas in my tank to thoroughly disappoint my critics, and I intend to do so with all the enthusiasm to which they have become accustomed.”
Republicans in Washington expect a competitive GOP primary race to fill his seat. Former Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron announced his candidacy immediately following McConnell’s announcement, and Representative Andy Barr has also said that he is strongly considering jumping into the race. The two-term Democratic Governor Andy Beshear and his political team have said repeatedly that he will not run for the seat.