Mitch McConnell, the nation’s longest-serving Senate party leader, will not seek reelection in 2026.
The politician confirmed that he will end his time in office following the completion of his term during a speech on the Senate floor on Thursday, Feb. 20, which marked his 83rd birthday.
“I will not seek this honor an eighth time. My current term in the Senate will be my last,” McConnell said, per remarks shared in a press release following his speech, noting that “my birthday would be as good a day as any to share with our colleagues a decision I made last year about how I’ll approach the 119th Congress.”
He added that his time in the Senate “has been the honor of a lifetime.”
His term was scheduled to end in January 2027.
News of the Kentucky senator’s decision comes after he previously announced that he would step down from his leadership position after the 2024 elections. Though, at the time, he asserted that he wasn’t leaving Washington just yet.
“I will finish the job the people of Kentucky hired me to do … albeit from a different seat in the chamber,” he said in February 2024. “I am looking forward to that.”
McConnell’s intention to not to seek reelection also comes amid concerns over his health, which has coincided with retirement rumors, stemming from the past few years.
Earlier this month, on Feb. 6, the politician fell down a flight of stairs moments after voting to confirm Scott Turner, President Donald Trump’s cabinet pick, as the Department of Housing and Urban Development secretary.
A spokesperson for McConnell told PEOPLE at the time he was “fine.” Although he was temporarily using a wheelchair out of precaution, they added, “The lingering effects of polio in his left leg will not disrupt his regular schedule as work.”
The incident came months after McConnell had a similar fall at the Capitol in December 2024. At the time, he took a stumble while leaving a Senate GOP luncheon, per multiple reports.
The senator’s health first took center stage in 2023, when he spent nearly five days in the hospital after falling at an event, where he suffered a minor rib fracture and a concussion, according to a spokesperson, causing him to remain hospitalized for “observation and treatment.”
He returned to the Capitol following his treatment, but made headlines again a few months later when he appeared to freeze mid-sentence during a press conference, staring blankly ahead for nearly 20 seconds.
His Senate GOP colleagues ultimately ushered him away from the podium, and McConnell returned a short time later to answer questions from reporters, assuring them that he was “fine.”
Despite calls for his resignation, McConnell stayed in office.
Mitch McConnell at a press conference on Jan. 9, 2024.
Samuel Corum/Getty
However, in August, he appeared to freeze again on camera when asked about whether he planned to seek another term in 2026. An aide repeated the question to him as he stared forward, then guided him off stage.
“Leader McConnell felt momentarily lightheaded and paused during his press conference today,” McConnell’s spokesperson said shortly afterward. An aide added, “While he feels fine, as a prudential measure, the Leader will be consulting a physician prior to his next event.”
McConnell was first elected to represent Kentucky in the Senate in 1984, when he ousted an incumbent Democrat and flipped the seat red. He secured a seventh term in office in the 2020 election.
In addition to holding distinction as Kentucky’s longest-serving senator, McConnell has led the Senate Republican Conference — alternating between majority and minority leader — since 2007.
