MITCH McConnell has faced a worrying series of health battles and ailments in his final term as Kentucky Senator.
The 82-year-old has insisted he plans to serve out his term, ending in January 2027, despite stepping down from his post as Republican Senate leader this November.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, 82, is stepping down[/caption]
Last year, Senator McConnell suffered two ‘freezing’ incidents[/caption]
He was also spotted with bruising on his hands after a fall[/caption]
McConnell, who has served as GOP leader since 2007, made the announcement in a Senate floor speech in February, adding that he had “total clarity and peace about the sunset of my work.”
But he had also faced growing hostility from many in his own party, particularly supporters of Donald Trump, in the run-up to the 2024 presidential election.
And on top of that, he’s faced a host of health issues that have worried his colleagues.
In March 2023, McConnell suffered a concussion and a fractured rib when he had a fall at a dinner in Washington DC.
That injury sidelined the veteran Kentucky senator for six weeks.
Then in July of that same year, he froze for 19 seconds at a news conference in the Capitol.
Addressing assembled cameras and reporters, he suddenly stopped speaking and stared blankly ahead before an aide intervened.
McConnell was then able to pick back up with his remarks.
Worried colleagues said they had noticed a change in McConnell since the fall.
The following month, he appeared to freeze a second time at an event in his home state.
He was also spotted with bruising on his hands.
McConnell’s office put the two freezing incidents down to him feeling “momentarily lightheaded,” but gave no more details.
In September 2023, McConnell’s staff released medical notes written to him by Dr Brian Monahan, the attending physician of Congress, which said that the senator wasn’t showing signs of seizure disorders, a stroke, or Parkinson’s disease.
The Office of Attending Physician had cleared McConnell to continue working, the notes said.
Speaking to Face the Nation in October last year, McConnell insisted he had “completely recovered” and was “back on the job,” following concerns about his health and ability to govern.
CHILDHOOD ILLNESS
McConnell suffered from polio as a child and has spoken openly about the long-term effects of surviving the disease.
In a 2020 interview with the Associated Press, he admitted that it was still difficult to climb stairs because of the physical impacts of his sickness.
Despite McConnell’s insistence that he was fit to work, it was reported that many Republicans behind the scenes were speculating on his future.
House Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, a major Trump supporter from Georgia, had branded the speaker unfit for office.
Writing on X, she compared McConnell to Biden, the late California Senator Dianne Feinstein, and Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman, who suffered a stroke prior to his election.
“Severe aging health issues and/or mental health incompetence in our nation’s leaders MUST be addressed,” she wrote.
“These politicians’ staff and family members should be ashamed of themselves by enabling and allowing their loved ones to remain in office all to hold power.
“We are talking about our country’s national security and it’s all at stake!”
Mitch McConnell’s road to Republican Senate leader
- Mitch McConnell was born in Sheffield, Alabama, on February 20, 1942.
- He enlisted in the US Army Reserve as a private in Louisville, Kentucky.
- He got his start in politics in 1968 as a chief legislative assistant to Senator Marlow Cook in Washington, DC.
- In 1971, McConnell returned to Kentucky, where he worked on Tom Emberton’s campaign for state governor.
- In October 1974, McConnell returned to the nation’s capital to fill a position as deputy assistant attorney general under President Gerald Ford.
- McConnell was first elected to the Senate in 1984, making history as the first Republican challenger in the country to defeat an incumbent Democrat and the first GOP member to win a statewide Kentucky race since 1968.
- Republicans voted McConnell the party’s leader in 2007.
- After Republicans took control of the Senate following the 2014 Senate elections, McConnell became the Senate Majority Leader.
- In June 2018, he became the longest-serving Senate Republican leader in the history of the United States.
Trump, 78, and McConnell have been estranged since December 2020 when McConnell refused to go along with Trump’s insistence that President Joe Biden‘s election win was a result of fraud.
In private, McConnell branded Trump “stupid” and despicable” according to his biography.
In public, he accused the former president of being “practically and morally responsible for provoking” the January 6 attack on the US Capitol.
Despite that, McConnell endorsed Trump earlier this year, saying he promised to support the Republican candidate “regardless of who it is,” and added that Trump had “earned the nomination.”
LONG-STANDING SENATOR
McConnell has served as a senator for Kentucky since 1985, making him the longest-serving senator in the state’s history.
Making the announcement of his stepping down, McConnell also pointed to the death of his sister-in-law, Angela Chao, in a car accident as influencing his decision.
He is the longest-serving Senate leader in US history, serving as majority leader from 2015 to 2021, when Democrats took back control of the legislative body.
His likely Republican replacements are Senator John Cornyn, from Texas, and South Dakota Senator John Thune.
