McConnell to Step Down as GOP Leader

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell has announced he will step down from the leadership position in November. The 82-year-old announced his decision in the well of the Senate as his aides and senators from both parties looked on. McConnell said he had been contemplating this for months. McConnell says he plans to serve out his Senate term, which ends in January 2027, just this time from a different seat in the chamber. While it came as a shock to some, UK Political Science Professor Dr. Stephen Voss said McConnell stepping down is a punctuation mark on the transition from the Reagan-Bush Republican Party of the late 20th century to the new one that Donald Trump and his allies have refashioned.