Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.), 81, was rushed to hospital Wednesday night following a fall at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in Washington, D.C.
“This evening, Leader McConnell tripped at a local hotel during a private dinner. He has been admitted to the hospital where he is receiving treatment,” a spokesperson for the senator noted in a statement released shortly afterward. The representative added that McConnell was attending a private dinner when he tripped.
McConnell was first elected in 1984, became the Republican Party’s leader in 2007, and is now serving his seventh six-year term in the Senate.
With the opening of the 118th Congress, McConnell became the longest-service Senator in history, surpassing the previous record of 16 years.
Fellow senator John Cornyn (R., Tex.) publicly wished McConnell a speedy recovery. “Sandy and I are praying for Leader McConnell’s speedy recovery and look forward to seeing him back in the Capitol soon,” the Texas Senator tweeted early Thursday morning.
The health woes continue for the Senate as Senators Dianne Feinstein (D., Calif.) was recently hospitalized due to shingles and John Fetterman (D., Pa.) remains sidelined for medical treatments.
The Kentucky Senator had previously fell at his personal residence in 2019, resulting in a fractured shoulder.
McConnell, and his wife, former Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, have been outspoken critics of Donald Trump. The former president recently sought to tie the couple to classified material found at the Penn Biden Center, a think tank in Washington D.C., dabbling in racism.
“Does Coco Chow have anything to do with Joe Biden’s Classified Documents being sent and stored in Chinatown?” Trump posted on Truth Social, a social-media platform he created, in late January. “Her husband, the Old Broken Crow, is VERY close to Biden, the Democrats, and, of course, China.”
“When I was young, some people deliberately misspelled or mispronounced my name. Asian Americans have worked hard to change that experience for the next generation. He doesn’t seem to understand that, which says a whole lot more about him than it will ever say about Asian Americans,” Chao responded in an official statement first obtained by Politico.
The average age in the Senate is 65.