Washington – Republican Senator Mitch McConnell It was announced on Thursday that he would not look for re -election next year, ending a ten -year term as an energy broker, who supported conservative causes, but eventually transferred the ground to the fierce populism of President Donald Trump.
Mcconnell, the The longest servicing the leader of the Senate party In the US history, he chose his 83rd birthday to share his decision not to apply for another term in Kentucky and retire when his current term ends. He informed Associated Press about his decision before he turned to his colleagues in a speech on the Senate floor.
“Seven times my colleagues from Kentucki sent me to the Senate,” said McConnell, when the helpers set up the rear chamber and the senators listened to the places. “Every day between them I was humiliated by the trust that they put in me to conduct their activities here. Representing our community was the honor of life. I will not look for this honor eighth time. My current term in the Senate will be my last. “
McConnell’s emotion intensified shortly after McConnell spoke.
Former Prosecutor General Daniel Cameron, a Republican, said he was in the race to replace his one -off mentor, he previously worked as a legal advisor of McConnell. Cameron lost the Governor 2023 race with the democratic present Andy Beshear, but planned a political return. Cameron said on Thursday that his values ​​are in line with voters in Kentucky and advertised support for Trump.
»Read more: From 2023: Mitch McConnell is a arson that set fire to America and escaped Will
“I will be a senator of” America “and it’s time for a new generation of leadership,” Cameron said AP in a telephone interview on Thursday evening.
McConnella’s retirement announcement began an epilogue with a multi -story career as a master Conservative Supreme Court And the Senate was undergoing tax reductionsIN Presidential impeachment processes and fierce political struggle. However, with his powerful perch on the committees and almost two years remained in his term, McConnell promised to complete his work on the other several fronts.
“I have unfinished matters in which I can deal with,” he said.
McConnell carefully approached the podium, wearing a walking shoe. Senators on both sides of the political passage seemed to listen to the most careful because he told them that although there are many reasons for pessimism, the strength of the Senate is not one of them.
“The Senate is still prepared for work with great consequences,” he told them.
As summed up, Senator Thom Tillis, RN.C., imposed senators, employees and visitors to the Capitol, can applaud, which is usually not allowed in accordance with the regulations of the Senate.
Then Republican Senators set up in a queue to welcome McConnell, starting with Senator Susan Collins from Maine, who hugged him, and Senator Lisa Murkowski from Alaska, who patted him on the back. He took out the tissue and joked, which prompted the group to laugh. The leader of the majority of Senate John Thune from southern Dakota gave him a hot handshake, and a dozen other senators also did it.
Senator Lindsey Graham said that McConnell has transformed the American judiciary, especially the Supreme Court. “He is to be proud of them and I’m sure it will work hard to the very end of his term,” said Graham.
Changing dynamics in GOP
McConnell, chosen for the first time in 1984, intends to serve until his term ends in January 2027. A series of medical episodes In recent years, including injuries related to falls and times His face froze briefly When he spoke.
McConnell is renowned for worshiped the Senate as a newborn intern for a long time before he joined his rear benches as the first -year legislators in the mid -eighties. His dramatic advertisement appears almost a year after the decision to resign His leadership position After the November 2024 election.
McConnella’s departure reflects the changing GOP dynamics directed by Trump. He saw his power to decrease on a parallel track with both his health and relationships with Trump, who once praised him as an ally criticizing it in corrosive terms.
In Kentucky, the departure of McConnell will mean the loss of a powerful lawyer and will set off in a competitive GOP Primary next year based on the open mandate of the Senate. Beshear, perceived as a rising star in his party to win a nationwide office in republican territory, said that he is not interested in the Senate. The main political strategist of Beshear, Eric Hyers, repeated this position on Thursday, publishing on X: “He does not run for the Senate.”
Another outstanding republican from Kentucky, who quickly considered the race. US representative Andy Barr said that he would soon decide about his future. GOP candidate also appears businessman Nate Morris.
One common denominator among them – their confession of loyalty to Trump.
McConnell, an ardent adjacent to the brand of time-honored conservatism of Ronald Reagan and muscular foreign policy, increasingly stated that GOP is moving towards the fiery, often isolationist populism told by Trump.
McConnell still masters, providing Ukraine weapons and other aid based on the Russian invasion, even when Trump raises the criticism of the country and its leader, Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The senator explained on Thursday that national defense remains a priority for him.
He and Trump were partners during the first term of Trump, but the relationship was cut off after McConnell blamed Trump for “shameful” action January 6, 2021, Capitol’s attack by their supporters. Temporary thaw in 2024, when McConnell supported Trump It didn’t last.
Last week, Trump referred to McConnell As a “very bitter guy” after McConnell, who fought polio as a child, opposed the skeptics of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as the best health official in the country. McConnell called Trump as “a wicked human being” and “Narcissus” in Biography of the senator By the deputy head of the Washington office AP, Michael Tackett.
Supreme Court passage
Before their falling out, Trump and McConnell pushed tax review To a immense extent, he focuses on reductions for companies and taxpayers with higher earners. They joined forces to transform the Supreme Court when Trump nominated three judges, and McConnell led them to confirm the Senate, tilting the Supreme Court to the right.
McConnell established a precedent for guerrilla tactics in 2016, even refusing to hear the democratic president Choice of Merrick Garland Baracka Obama replace the deceased Supreme Court judge Antonin Scalai. McConnell said that the vacancy should fill the brakes as “consultancy and consent” for the nominees for the judiciary, said that the vacancy should be filled by the next president so that voters could have their saying. Trump filled the vacancy When he took office and McConnell later called Stonewalling of Garland the nomination “the most consistent” achievement.
Later, when the Liberal Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg died a few weeks before the presidential election in 2020 won by Democrat Joe Biden, McConnell. Pushed confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett Through the Senate, waving allegations of hypocrisy.
McConnell also led the Senate – and Trump – through two impeachment processes, which ended with acquittals.
In the second impeachment, weeks after the fatal attack of the capital by the crowd, hoping to annul the re -election of Trump in 2020, McConnell joined everyone except seven republicans in Voting to acquit. McConnell said he believes that Trump could not be convicted because he has already left the office, but the senator also condemned Trump as “practically and morally responsible” for the uprising.
Over the years, McConnell moved from most to the minority leader, depending on which party maintained power. He defended the behavior of President George W. Bush through the war in Iraq and did not block Obama’s health care review.
McConnell, the longest -acting senator in history from Kentucky, assured that Bluegrass has received many federal funds. After returning home, he was a key architect as part of his party to power in the state for a long time dominated by Democrats.
He is married to Elaine Chao and they have long been a pair of power in Washington. The senator called her “the final colleague of the team and the confidant.” However, Chao was the secretary of work for Bush and the secretary of transport during the first term of Trump she gave up After the creation of the Capitol, saying that “it worries her deeply.”
