Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Tuesday that he thinks Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has done a “pretty good job” transitioning from her House leadership role. When he resigned after the election, local news outlets reported, he suggested he would try to follow a similar path.
“I think Pelosi has done a pretty good job as a former speaker of the House, still being able to express herself and get an audience,” McConnell said Tuesday at a Bowling Green Area Chamber of Commerce luncheon.
Pelosi announced she would step down as House Democratic leader after her party lost control of the House in the 2022 midterm elections. Pelosi has led House Democrats since 2003, marking the longest tenure in either party since Sam Rayburn’s historic term ended in 1961.
However, Pelosi said she has no intention of resigning her seat. Instead, after two decades in power, Pelosi will remain in Congress as an at-large member to help guide a new generation of party leaders.
McConnell took a similar step in February 2024, announcing that he would step down as Senate Republican leader after nearly two decades after the November election. However, he said he intended to remain in Congress for the remainder of his term, which ends in January 2027.
McConnell passed the late Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield (D-Mont.) in January 2023 to become the longest-serving Senate leader in history.
“I hope people continue to care about what I think,” McConnell added at the event, according to the news organization.
The Hill has reached out to McConnell’s office for comment.
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