Kentucky’s longtime Republican U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell said Thursday he will not seek reelection in 2026.
McConnell made the announcement on his 83rd birthday in a speech on the Senate floor.
McConnell was the longest serving Senate leader in U.S. history after stepping down from his leadership role last November, having led the GOP caucus for nearly two decades.
McConnell said he has been “humbled by the trust” of Kentuckians who elected him to the Senate seven times. “Representing our commonwealth has been the honor a lifetime. I will not seek this honor an eighth time. My current term in the Senate will be my last.”
Although McConnell was expected to retire at the end of this term, his announcement sets off the race to succeed him in earnest, fueling further speculation about who will compete for Kentucky’s open Senate seat in 2026.
Republican Daniel Cameron, a former Kentucky attorney general, was first out of the gate, announcing his candidacy on social media as soon as McConnell’s speech ended. Republican U.S. Rep. Andy Barr posted that he is still considering whether to enter the 2026 Senate primary.
Decision made last year
McConnell’s legacy includes shaping the federal judiciary by orchestrating Senate floor votes for three key Supreme Court appointments from President Donald Trump while blocking nominations from Democratic presidents. Overall, McConnell led the Senate confirmation of 234 lifetime appointments to the federal bench.
Concerns for the senator’s health have risen within the last year after falls, a concussion and freezing mid-speech. Earlier this month, McConnell fell in the U.S. Senate but was reported to be “fine.”
McConnell, a polio survivor, said he made the decision not to seek reelection last year. “I’ve never lost sight of the fact that without my mother’s devoted care, a childhood encounter with polio could have turned out a lot worse,” he told his colleagues.
McConnell ended by saying he will “depart with great hope for the endurance of the Senate as an institution. There are any number of reasons for pessimism but the strength of the Senate is not one of them. … The Senate is still equipped for work of great consequence, and to the disappointment of my critics I’m still here on the job.”
McConnell was first elected to the Senate in 1984 at a time when Kentucky Republicans were a small minority in a state long dominated by Democrats. When Kentucky’s five Republican constitutional officers were sworn in at the state Capitol in January 2024, McConnell told the crowd he was “thrilled to have an opportunity to be here today in this most improbable thing, which is a crowd in Frankfort that is not at least 100% Democratic.”
McConnell’s rise to the Senate came after he was Jefferson County judge-executive in Louisville. Since then, he’s repeatedly supported Republican candidates in Kentucky, leading to their rise across decades. In the 2024 election cycle, McConnell’s PAC gave 95 Republican candidates $2,100 each, the maximum allowed under state law.
Last September when the Republican Party of Kentucky dedicated an expansion of their state headquarters in Frankfort, top GOP leaders in the state heralded “the house that Mitch built.” The building is also named after McConnell.
“We’ve come a long way, and the people here today had a lot to do with it,” McConnell said at the time. “Thanks for all the praise for me, but it’s a team sport, and many of you have contributed a lot of years and a lot of dollars over the years to bring us where we are today.”
Robert Benvenuti, the chairman of the state party, said in a statement Thursday that Kentucky Republicans offered the “deepest gratitude to Sen. Mitch McConnell for his extraordinary and steadfast service to our state and nation.”
“Without his vision and tireless efforts, we would not be the majority party in Kentucky, with strong voter registration, supermajorities in our legislature, and seven of Kentucky’s eight seats in Washington,” Benvenuti said. “His principled, conservative leadership has shaped policies that have strengthened both our state and our country.”
Who is running and who could run?
McConnell’s term ends in 2027. With his announcement to not seek reelection, the stage is set for a swath of Republican and Democratic candidates to announce their bids for Kentucky’s Senate seat. Candidates cannot officially file for the election until Nov. 5.
Cameron quickly announced his plans to run for the seat after McConnell concluded his remarks. During his unsuccessful 2023 gubernatorial bid, Cameron was often heralded as a McConnell protegé. Cameron was endorsed in the GOP primary for governor by President Donald Trump.
“Kentucky, it’s time for a new generation of leadership in the U.S. Senate,” Cameron said on X. “Let’s do this.”
Barr of Lexington recently told Fox News he was mulling a run for the seat regardless of McConnell’s decision.
After the news Thursday, Barr said on X he was still considering running “because Kentucky deserves a Senator who will fight for President Trump and the America First Agenda.”
“I’ve done that every day in the House and would do so in the Senate,” Barr said. “I’m encouraged by the outpouring of support and my family and I will be making a decision about our future soon.”
Barr’s initial comments on running for the seat came after Lexington-based businessman and GOP political donor Nate Morris took to X to criticize McConnell for not confirming some of Trump’s recent nominations in the Senate. Morris said in the video he was considering running for the Senate seat or governor.
Kentucky Senate President Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, told reporters Thursday afternoon that “I don’t rule it out, but I don’t rule it in either” on a possible U.S. Senate run for him. He has previously said he feels the state General Assembly has a more direct impact on the daily lives of Kentuckians than the federal delegation.
“I want to focus on the (state) Senate, the Senate session and doing the policy work that I think moves the state forward, and that will be my concern and my purpose until … March 28,” Stivers said.
Former Kentucky Senate Republican Floor Leader Damon Thayer told the Kentucky Lantern that with the field lining up for the seat so far on the Republican side, he does not see himself pursing a run for the open seat. Between Morris, Barr and Cameron, who all have various strengths, Thayer said he will likely endorse one of them in the future but was not prepared to do so Thursday.
“Whoever replaces Sen. McConnell will have big shoes to fill,” Thayer said.
He pointed to the entirety of McConnell’s career and impact on Kentucky, which Thayer said included securing federal funding for infrastructure projects, lowering taxes and paving the way for judicial appointments. Wondering if the next senator will make it a priority to allow Kentucky to still “punch above its weight”, is a fair question to lay out during the campaign, Thayer said.
The state’s top Democrat, Gov. Andy Beshear, “will not be running for Senate in 2026,” said his political strategist, Eric Hyers, in an email to the Kentucky Lantern. Beshear, who is sometimes mentioned as a potential presidential candidate in 2028, has repeatedly said he wants to finish his second gubernatorial term, which ends in 2027. Kentucky governors are limited to two terms.
A spokesperson for Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman, another Democrat, said on X she was “not interested” in running.
House Democratic Floor Leader Rep. Pamela Stevenson, of Louisville, recently filed her paperwork to raise money for a Senate campaign. In 2023, she was the Democratic nominee for attorney general but lost to Republican Russell Coleman.
Stevenson said on X Thursday that she intends to run for the seat and “will make my formal announcement in a few weeks.”
“It is time KY has new leadership in DC that is dedicated to serving them,” she wrote.
This article is republished under a Creative Commons license from Kentucky Lantern, which is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Kentucky Lantern maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jamie Lucke for questions: info@kentuckylantern.com. Follow Kentucky Lantern on Facebook and Twitter.
McKenna Horsley covers state politics for the Kentucky Lantern. She previously worked for newspapers in Huntington, West Virginia, and Frankfort, Kentucky. She is from northeastern Kentucky.
