After seven terms in office, Kentucky Sen. McConnell will not seek re-election in 2026

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Longtime Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell will not seek re-election next year, he announced Thursday, ending a decadeslong 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. He stepped down from that post earlier this year and was replaced by Sen. John Thune, R-S.D.

“Seven times, my fellow Kentuckians have sent me to the Senate,” McConnell said in a Senate floor speech Thursday. “Representing our commonwealth has been the honor of a lifetime. I will not seek this honor an eighth time. My current term in the Senate will be my last.”

McConnell doesn’t make any momentous political decision without meticulous planning.

So a year ago, when he took the floor on the last day of February to announce his decision to vacate the post of Senate GOP leader, he had already settled on sunsetting his career in 2026.

A political aide confirmed to the Herald-Leader exclusively at the time he wasn’t running again.

His speech confirming his exit from the Senate came nearly a year after his leadership decision.

“To the distinguished members of this body I’ve had the privilege to lead, I remain deeply, deeply grateful,” McConnell said .

McConnell, a giant of the Senate, in many ways has found his influence shrinking over the past year as Trump bulldozed his way back into the White House.

Just last week, Trump took credit for pushing McConnell aside.

“I feel sorry for Mitch… He wanted to go to the end and he wanted to stay leader. He’s not equipped mentally, he wasn’t equipped 10 years ago mentally in my opinion,” Trump said seated from his desk in the Oval Office last week. “I was the one that got him to drop out of the leadership position, so he can’t love me.”

McConnell, in fact, didn’t love Trump but he learned to tolerate him for the unity of the Republican Party and specifically, winning back a GOP Senate. He declined to comment on Trump’s antics for most of the 2024 campaign, calculating that allowing vicious slights to slide was imperative for Republicans to succeed.

McConnell has cut a new independent streak in recent weeks, casting “no” votes against three Trump Cabinet nominees, Robert Kennedy Jr., Tulsi Gabbard and Pete Hegseth.

To McConnell’s defenders, it’s an indication of the senator’s newfound political freedom. To his many critics, it shows his dwindling influence as he looks toward his exit from the Senate, protected from the threat of MAGA voters in another election.

“So lest any of our colleagues still doubt my intentions for the remainder of my term, I have some unfinished business to attend to… and to the disappointment of my critics I’m still here on the job,” McConnell said as he concluded his speech.

Rand Paul, Kentucky’s junior U.S. Senator, said he appreciated McConnell’s “dedication and commitment to serving Kentuckians over the years” and wishes him “the best.”

The announcement likely opens the floodgates on one of the most anticipated political contests in recent Kentucky history.

The commonwealth has not seen an open U.S. Senate seat since 2010, when Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., defeated a McConnell-backed candidate in the Republican primary.

So far, three prominent Kentucky Republicans have expressed serious interest in replacing McConnell.

Former attorney general Daniel Cameron, who began his political career as an intern in McConnell’s office and ran unsuccessfully against Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear in 2023, has said he’d “be honored to serve” in the role.

Central Kentucky Congressman Andy Barr has a flush campaign account that could transfer into a Senate race and he has told fellow Republicans he intends to jump in.

Then there’s Nate Morris, a businessman with ties to Vice President J.D. Vance who’s tried to carve out a lane as the sharpest McConnell critic. Morris has aggressively castigated his would-be rivals for waiting on McConnell to make a decision even as he has yet to formally launch a campaign himself.

“Sadly too many Republicans, including some who are considering running for Senate here in Kentucky, have sided with Mitch McConnell over President Trump,” posted Morris on Wednesday, referring to ongoing support for Ukraine, one of McConnell’s most passionate causes.

McConnell has yet to offer an assessment of the race or an indication of who he’d support.

The longtime Senate GOP leader made the announcement on his decision to not run for re-election on his 83rd birthday. He said in his floor speech that he made up his mind last year.