Washington (AFP) - Veteran US politician Mitch McConnell, 82, said Wednesday he would step down as leader of the Republican Party in the Senate later this year, ending his tenure as the longest-serving Senate leader in American history.
"I stand before you today, Mr. President and my colleagues to say this will be my last term as Republican leader," McConnell said in chamber.
His announcement came as a surprise and prompted lawmakers from both parties to give him a standing ovation.
McConnell has been the powerful and largely unchallenged leader of Republicans in the Senate since 2015 and was in the front line of the party's battles against the policies of Barack Obama from 2009-2017.
He was instrumental in bringing Donald Trump to power in January 2017 as the party underwent dramatic changes, before falling out with Trump over the former president's baseless claims to have won the 2020 election.
McConnell has been one of the most outspoken supporters of US aid to Ukraine since the Russian invasion of February 2022.
But last summer concerns arose about McConnell's fitness, as several times he froze up while speaking in public and fell awkwardly silent.
In March he was hospitalized after he fell during a dinner and suffered a concussion and a broken rib, forcing him to leave his job for six weeks.
But he steadfastly refused to resign and rejected suggestions that he was no longer healthy enough to serve.
