“I stand before you today (…) to tell you that this term will be my last as leader of the Republicans,” announced US Senator Mitch McConnell on Wednesday February 28. Aged 82, he will therefore leave office in November.
“When thinking about the moment when I would announce news to the Senate, I always imagined a moment when I would be completely lucid and serene about the outcome of my work. A moment when I would be certain of having contributed to preserving the ideals in which I believe so much. This moment has arrived today,” added the Kentucky senator, who however wanted to finish “in another seat” his mandate which expires in January.
This surprise speech was greeted with standing ovations from elected officials from both sides in the Upper House. Uncontested President of the Republican group in the Senate since 2015, Mitch McConnell found himself on the front line of the fight against the policies of the administration of Democratic President Barack Obama (2009-2017), but also to support Donald Trump, who arrived came to power in January 2017.
For several months, his state of health had caused concern. This summer he was the victim of two long periods of absence in one month. In March, the Kentucky senator was hospitalized after a fall at a private dinner that left him with a concussion, a broken rib and nearly six weeks off work. Despite this, Mitch McConnell categorically refused to resign.
“Gravedigger”
Mitch McConnell did not explain the reasons which led him to this decision, but he mentioned the recent death of his wife’s youngest sister, which prompted him to introspection. “The end of my contributions is closer than I wanted,” he added.
For years he greedily claimed the nickname “Gravedigger,” accustomed to burying the hopes of his Democratic adversaries. In the upper house of Congress, he worked hard to promote a conservative agenda, including the appointment of Supreme Court justices who in 2022 overturned constitutional protections for abortion .
In recent years, this patient negotiator in the shadows has also distinguished himself as one of the greatest defenders of American aid to Kiev, forced to deal with a party shaken up by Donald Trump and espousing positions of increasingly isolationist.
This radical change has been obvious in recent weeks, with the blocking of an envelope of 60 billion dollars for Ukraine, at war with Russia since February 2022.
With his old-fashioned suits that you might think came from a 1970s wardrobe, he has always cultivated an austere, even rustic image, matched only by his reputation as a political strategist. Under the presidency of Joe Biden, a man he worked alongside for years in the Senate, he also worked to adopt several major projects supported by both parties.
