(DailyVantage.com) – “One of life’s most underappreciated talents,” Republican Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell said in a recent address to his colleagues in the Senate, “is to know when it’s time to move on to life’s next chapter.”
McConnell went on to announce that he would be stepping down as leader of the Republican Party in the Senate, effective November this year.
“This will be my last term as Republican leader of the Senate,” he said.
McConnell has made history in the Upper Chamber as the longest-serving leader of the GOP in the Senate, holding the position for close to 20 years.
The 82-year-old McConnell has been under some pressure to vacate his post for some time over a number of issues. One is his age, as he is older than even President Joe Biden. While his staff deny that McConnell’s decision to step back from the Republican party’s leadership is in any way connected to his health, the Kentucky senator has had been in a number of incidents that have raised concerns about his capability to continue holding his post. McConnell has had two episodes – both public appearances – where his face froze for a short time while he was talking. In addition, he suffered a concussion and a broken rib after falling at a Washington, D.C., hotel last year.
McConnell’s relationship with a number of his fellow Republicans has also not been the best of late. Despite being a staunch supporter of former president Donald Trump during the latter’s tenure in the White House, the relationship between the two fell apart when McConnell refused to back Trump’s claims of electoral fraud during the 2020 presidential elections. As such, McConnell is also not popular with many of Trump’s current allies in the Senate and Congress.
McConnell also belongs to the Republican old guard – holding on to more traditionally conservative principles espoused during the administration of former president Ronald Reagan, which is a sharp contrast on several fronts from the more populist approach of the current Trump-led GOP.
The Kentucky senator and current Senate Minority Leader said that while he will no longer be at the helm of the Senate GOP, he intends to serve out the remainder of his term, which ends in January 2027.
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