THE NEW YORK TIMES – Senator Mitch McConnell, the Kentucky Republican and longest-serving Senate leader who played a pivotal role in obstructing major Democratic agenda items and stacking the federal courts with conservatives, said on Thursday that he would not seek another term in 2026.
In a speech on the Senate floor that fell on his 83rd birthday, Mr. McConnell made official what had been widely expected since he announced last year that he would step down as the Republican leader.
Representing Kentucky was “the honor of a lifetime,” he said, but “I will not seek this honor an eighth time. My current term in the Senate will be my last.”
When he stepped down as leader, Mr. McConnell had said he was committed to finishing out his seventh term in Congress. He had not announced his political plans, but it had become clear that he was nearing the end of his career.
Mr. McConnell has dealt with a series of health issues over the past year, including back-to-back falls recently that left him temporarily using a wheelchair to navigate the Capitol.
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Mr. McConnell established himself as a master tactician in the Senate during 18 years as minority and majority leader, making shrewd use of the chamber’s rules to thwart his opponents and empower his allies, including President Trump.
He blocked President Barack Obama from filling a Supreme Court seat toward the end of his tenure and then led a Republican effort to install deeply conservative jurists on the bench under the first Trump administration, culminating in the confirmation of three Supreme Court justices.
But he has a deeply fraught relationship with Mr. Trump, despite having played a key role in enacting the president’s agenda and allowing him to return to power. In recent weeks, he has found himself increasingly isolated …