McConnell, the longest serving Senate party leader in U.S. history, said in a floor speech that his “current term in the Senate will be my last.”

“Regardless of the political storms that may wash over this chamber … I assure our colleagues that I will depart with great hope for the endurance of the Senate as an institution,” he said.

A large cohort of ambitious Kentucky Republicans has long been angling to succeed the 83-year-old former Senate GOP leader, who has held his seat since 1985.