Mitch McConnell stepping down as Republican leader

Longtime Republican leader Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., announced Wednesday he will step away from leadership in November. 

McConnell, who turned 82 last week, announced his decision in the well of the Senate shortly after noon, 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.

“One of life’s most underappreciated talents is to know when it’s time to move on to life’s next chapter,” he said in prepared remarks reported by The Associated Press. “So I stand before you today … to say that this will be my last term as Republican leader of the Senate.”

The dramatic decision, which will set up a leadership election in the GOP conference with several likely candidates, comes as Republicans have expressed increasing discontent with McConnell’s handling of the bipartisan border bill and national security supplemental package that included aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. 

Though McConnell will not be GOP leader after this year, he said he will finish his current senate term, which ends in January 2027.

“As 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,” McConnell said on the Senate floor. “A moment when I am certain I have helped preserve the ideals I so strongly believe. It arrived today.”

This is a developing story and will be updated. The Associated Press contributed to this report.