LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell will step down from his leadership post in November, ending his history-setting tenure as the Senate's longest serving party leader.
"The Republican Party seems to be changing," Gary Gregg, director of the Mitch McConnell Center at the University of Louisville, said Wednesday. "He's trying to lead the party as a Reagan-ite Republican, and I think he's in a fight with some of his party, with some of the other party. It just seems to be the right time to stake his legacy."
McConnell's legacy isn't one of landmark legislation but influence.
While leading the Republican party, Kentucky benefitted from his position of power. He kept the commonwealth in the national conversation.
"He was influencing a lot of budgetary measures and related financial matters that contributed to the state," Dr. Stephan Voss, a political science professor at the University of Kentucky, said Wednesday. "Losing that Republican leadership spot, losing the seniority and the clout that McConnell had ... is going to be costly for Kentucky in the short run."
The move will end his history-setting tenure as the Senate's longest serving party leader.
McConnell also fought to keep Fort Knox open in the 1990s, secured funding to build the new $840 million VA Hospital in Louisville and earmarked federal money to develop the Parklands of Floyds Fork.
Most recently, he didn't vote along party lines, allowing the federal infrastructure bill to pass and sending millions of dollars to Kentucky.
"When big omnibus bills would go through, when big budget bills would go through, McConnell, even as the Minority Leader, was one of the few people in the room who got to shape the particulars of the legislation," Voss said.
McConnell is only the second Kentuckian to ever be majority leader of the U.S. Senate. He plans to serve out the remainder of his Senate term, which ends in January 2027.
"Forty years of being a consequential leader of the Senate brings a lot, and I think Kentucky has a lot to be thankful," Gregg said.
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