Mitch McConnell announces that he’s stepping down as Senate GOP leader

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) announced today that he’s stepping down from Senate leadership in November.

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

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He said that he plans to serve the rest of his term, which will end in 2027. The 82-year-old’s staff said that he is not stepping down from leadership due to his health, which has gotten attention in the media recently because he froze up and also stopped moving and talking several times while speaking with journalists.

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McConnell didn’t give any specific reason for stepping down. In addition to his health problems, he has also faced an increasingly implacable right wing in the Senate that has grown louder and more critical of him.

While he has faced criticism from the far-right of his party, he has remained steadfastly anti-LGBTQ+ in the Senate. He has consistently gotten scores of zero or close to zero on the Human Rights Campaign’s Congressional Scorecard, showing his constant opposition to LGBTQ+ equality.

He blocked a vote on an amendment that would have reversed former President Donald Trump’s ban on transgender people serving openly in the military in 2017.

In 2010, he voted against the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” the policy that banned gay and bisexual people from serving openly in the military. At the time, he accused Democrats of “put[ting] on a show” to try to pass “things Americans either don’t want or aren’t interested in seeing.” He even tried to get an amendment attached to the bill to require a lengthy certification process before gay and bisexual people would be allowed to serve openly in the military.

In 2006, he called for a constitutional amendment banning marriage equality. Explaining his reasoning, he said, “I believe that traditional marriage, the union between a man and a woman, is the cornerstone of our society and the best possible foundation for a family. I believe that traditional marriage, the union between a man and a woman, should be the only form of marriage recognized by law.”

McConnell is perhaps best known for blocking President Barack Obama’s appointment of Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court in 2016, leaving the seat open for months until Trump got elected and appointed conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch. The move resulted in a moving the Court further to the right than it would have been had McConnell allowed a vote on Garland’s confirmation.