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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.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of life\u2019s most underappreciated talents is to know when it\u2019s time to move on to life\u2019s next chapter,\u201d he said in prepared remarks obtained by The Associated Press. \u201cSo I stand before you today \u2026 to say that this will be my last term as Republican leader of the Senate.\u201d<\/p>\n
His decision punctuates a powerful ideological transition underway in the Republican Party, from Ronald Reagan\u2019s brand of traditional conservatism and strong international alliances, to the fiery, often isolationist populism of former President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n
McConnell said he plans to serve out his Senate term, which ends in January 2027, \u201calbeit from a different seat in the chamber.\u201d Aides said McConnell\u2019s announcement about the leadership post was unrelated to\u00a0his health<\/a>. The Kentucky senator had a\u00a0concussion<\/a>\u00a0from a fall last year and two public episodes\u00a0where his face briefly froze<\/a>\u00a0while\u00a0he was speaking.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cAs 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,\u201d McConnell said in his prepared remarks. \u201cA moment when I am certain I have helped preserve the ideals I so strongly believe. It arrived today.\u201d<\/p>\n The senator had been under increasing pressure from the restive, and at times hostile wing of his party that has aligned firmly with Trump.\u00a0The two have been estranged<\/a>\u00a0since\u00a0December 2020<\/a>, when McConnell refused to abide Trump\u2019s lie that the election of Democrat Joe Biden as president was the product of fraud.<\/p>\n But while McConnell\u2019s critics within the GOP conference had grown louder, their numbers had not grown appreciably larger, a marker of McConnell\u2019s strategic and tactical skill and his ability to understand the needs of his fellow Republican senators.<\/p>\n 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\u2019s youngest sister as a moment that prompted introspection. \u201cThe end of my contributions are closer than I\u2019d prefer,\u201d McConnell said.<\/p>\n But his remarks were also light at times as he talked about the arc of his Senate career.<\/p>\n He noted that when he arrived in the Senate, \u201cI was just happy if anybody remembered my name.\u201d During his campaign in 1984, when Reagan was visiting Kentucky, the president called him \u201cMitch O\u2019Donnell.\u201d<\/p>\n McConnell endorsed Reagan\u2019s view of America\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n \u201cI am unconflicted about the good within our country and the irreplaceable role we play as the leader of the free world,\u201d McConnell said.<\/p>\n Against long odds he managed to secure 22 Republican votes for the package now being considered by the House.<\/p>\n \u201cBelieve 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,\u201d McConnell said. \u201cThat said, I believe more strongly than ever that America\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n McConnell and Trump had worked together in Trump\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n McConnell\u2019s critics insist he could have done more, including voting to convict Trump during his second impeachment trial.\u00a0McConnell did not<\/a>, arguing that since Trump was no longer in office, he could not be subject to impeachment.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n McConnell\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n