Mitch McConnell

Kentucky tactician and the longest-serving party leader in Senate history.

Overview

McConnell, a polio survivor turned procedural savant, entered the Senate in 1985 and led Senate Republicans from 2007 until standing down in 2025, the longest run as party leader in the chamber's history, including majority leader from 2015 to 2021. He withheld Senate action on a Supreme Court nomination in 2016 and steered three justices through in 2017 to 2020, reshaping the judiciary, alongside the 2017 tax law and pandemic responses. He declared the 2020 election result decisive after the Capitol attack while voting to acquit. His memoir title, The Long Game, described a career of patient structural power.