McConnell to Leave the Senate

Rob Mullins

Staff Writer Abroad

On Feb. 20, Senator Mitch McConnell announced that he will not seek re-election. The Kentucky Republican has served seven terms in office and was first elected in 1984.

McConnell’s retirement marks the end of a legendary political career, spanning multiple decades and presidential administrations. Pundits from across the political spectrum characterize McConnell as a quiet figure who has emerged as one of the most influential senators of the current political era.

Although he frequently aligned with President Donald Trump on domestic policy, McConnell emerged as a strong critic of the President when he needed to defend integral governmental institutions.

McConnell was perhaps the sharpest critic of Trump’s actions after the events of Jan. 6. To this day, many people wonder what he thinks of the direction taken by the party he has dedicated his life to advancing.

His most consequential maneuvers in the Senate will be remembered for his near total overhaul of the federal judiciary, tilting it in favor of conservatives for at least a generation. The most notorious episode of this legacy occurred in early 2016, when former Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia died.

Although there was enough time for then President Barack Obama to nominate a replacement, McConnell united Senate Republicans around keeping the seat vacant until the election was held. The promise of another conservative on the court is widely believed to have driven voter turnout and helped Trump. Even the president himself made a nod to this in his speech announcing the nomination of Neil Gorsuch to fill Scalia’s seat.

The Supreme Court nominees were only the beginning of McConnell’s moves in recent years. During Trump’s first term, McConnell prioritized confirming conservative judicial nominees with such speed that NPR estimates he successfully guided 234 Trump judicial nominees in total.

In 2019, Trump said that the nation “owes an immense debt of gratitude to a man whose leadership has been instrumental to our success.” As his second term begins, many are reflecting that the most consequential but least discussed aspect of the Trump political legacy is his extraordinary number of judicial appointments, which was a project driven by McConnell.