LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell said he was looking forward to the calm that will follow once he steps down from his leadership position next month.
Kentucky’s senior U.S. senator told a crowd gathered for a Kentucky Chamber of Commerce public affairs luncheon at the Omni Hotel in downtown Louisville that he was ready to be “free at last” from his leadership position.
Though he has not said explicitly whether he will seek reelection in 2026, the 82-year-old announced in February he would relinquish his title as minority leader, saying, “one of life’s most underappreciated talents is to know when it’s time to move on to life’s next chapter.”
“When you’re leader, if you’re smart, you have to look out for everybody else (and) you have to take all the arrows coming in order to protect all your members,” McConnell said Wednesday.
“You want to help each of them be as successful as possible. I’ve enjoyed it. I’ve done it for a long time, but I’m actually looking forward to the next couple years (and) focusing on what I want to focus on,” which is international security and pursuing peace relations with the country’s “adversaries,” like Russia and North Korea, he said.
McConnell also talked college sports, the movie “Reagan” and highlighted parts of his political legacy he hopes will endure as the longest-serving Senate leader in American history, and only the second person from Kentucky to hold the post.
Twice on Wednesday McConnell mentioned the pivotal role he played in the current makeup of the conservative U.S. Supreme Court by refusing to appoint former Democratic President Barack Obama’s choice, Merrick Garland, to the high court in 2016. This refusal eventually allowed former Republican President Donald Trump in 2017 to appoint Neil Gorsuch. Trump also appointed Brett Kavanaugh to succeed Justice Anthony Kennedy, who retired in 2018, and Amy Coney Barrett in 2020 after the death of Ruth Bader Ginsberg.
Not only did McConnell’s actions directly contribute to the formation of the court that then overturned federal protections for abortion in Roe v. Wade in 2022, they paved the way for the court’s expansive and consequential decision in June to revoke federal agencies’ power to issue rules and regulations and give that power back to Congress, in Chevron vs. the Natural Resources Defense Council.
McConnell called the overturning of Chevron “part of the change I’m proudest of.”
At Wednesday’s luncheon, McConnell also said he worries about Democrats in the Senate trying to eliminate the filibuster if they earn more seats, and he warned against the “growing movement in my party to be anti-business,” saying, “we don’t get anywhere by acting like Democrats.”
In looking back on his seven terms in the Senate, McConnell said it was always his goal to elevate the role that Kentucky played on the national stage, especially once he was elected to leadership.
“I needed to do everything I can to help Kentucky punch above its weight,” he said.
After 40 years in Congress, McConnell said, he’s “still a traditional Republican: pro-trade, low taxes, pro-business. And I think America ought to continue to have a party that represents those kinds of interests.”
McConnell evaded questions about whether he supported Trump in his bid for a second term as Commander in Chief.
When asked by a reporter about the threat Trump poses to democracy, McConnell said, “I think the election is pretty clear: if you’re satisfied with the Biden years, vote for the Democrat. If you think we can do better, vote for the Republican.”
And as far as who will win the presidential election on Nov. 5, “your guess is as good as mine,” he told the crowd.
“It looks like a cliffhanger.”
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