Former Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell announced on Thursday he will be retiring from the Senate, and will not seek reelection in 2026.

McConnell, who turned 83 on Thursday, announced in a floor speech where he reflected on his decades-long political career: “seven times my fellow Kentuckians have sent me to the Senate. Every day in between I have been humbled by the trust they place in me to do their business, right here. Representing our commonwealth has been the honor of a lifetime. I will not seek this honor for an eighth time. My current term in the Senate will be my last.”

McConnell said that he still has “unfinished business to attend to,” and that the Senate must fight for national security priorities and greater resources for defense: “thanks to Ronald Reagan’s determination, the work of strengthening America’s hard power was well underway when I arrived in the Senate, but since then, we’ve allowed that power to atrophy, and today, a dangerous world threatens to outpace the work of rebuilding it. So lest any of our colleagues still doubt my intentions for the remainder of my term, I have some unfinished business to attend to.” McConnell added that he will leave the Senate “with great hope for the endurance of the Senate as an institution. There are any number of reasons for pessimism, but the strength of the Senate is not one of them.”

Following his speech, McConnell received a standing ovation from his colleagues on both sides of the aisle. McConnell is the longest-serving Senate party leader in U.S. history. First elected in 1984, the Kentuckian intends to serve the remainder of his term ending in January 2027. McConnell has dealt with a series of medical episodes in recent years, including injuries sustained from falls and times when his face briefly froze while he was speaking.

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