Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell announced on Wednesday that he would not seek another term as Republican leader, ending a record stretch as the longest-serving party leader in Senate history. McConnell, who just turned 82, still intends to serve out his term ending in 2027. There will be years yet to process his towering influence over American politics and policy in the 21st century.

The timing of McConnell’s announcement was unexpected. While we cannot know what calculations he did to announce his lame-duck status on Wednesday, Feb. 28, we can be certain there were calculations. But the decision to step aside come November, itself, is not surprising. While it’s hard to imagine a world where McConnell is both alive and not leading the Senate GOP, all signs this Congress have been pointing to this decision.

First, there is McConnell’s age. While some view their early 80s as a time to renew their tenures atop American politics, McConnell acknowledged in a floor speech that his recent 82nd birthday reminded him that the “end of my contributions are closer than I’d prefer.” McConnell had suffered a concussion from a fall in early 2023 that sidelined him for weeks, and later in the year, he froze into silence multiple times during public press conferences. While he insisted that he was fine, and he’s had no such public incidents since, he has not been getting any younger.

The bigger issue, though, is that McConnell, a Reagan-era conservative, has found himself more and more at odds with the party’s new MAGA establishment. This has put him on the outs not just with Donald Trump, but with newer members of his own conference as well. Old friends and allies with an interest in governance, including Lamar Alexander, Rob Portman, and Roy Blunt, have left, while performers like Josh Hawley and J.D. Vance have entered. A younger, power-hungry McConnell might have adapted to the mores of Trumpism, but McConnell on........

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