Republican leader in the US Senate Mitch McConnell announces he will leave office in November. Kentucky senator is the longest-serving Senate Republican leader in American history.
He has been unanimously elected to lead the conference eight times since 2006. In March, the octogenarian senator was hospitalized after a fall during a private dinner, which left him with a concussion, a broken rib and nearly six weeks off work. Despite this, Mitch McConnell categorically refused to resign from his position. He found himself on the front line of the fight against the policies of the Obama administration.