Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, 84, has been hospitalized.
In a statement released Sunday, a spokesperson said, “Senator McConnell was admitted to the hospital this morning. He is receiving excellent care.”
CNN later reported that McConnell was taken to George Washington University Hospital in Washington, D.C. The reason for his admission on Sunday has not been disclosed.
McConnell, who has said he will not seek another term in the U.S. Senate in this year’s midterm elections, has faced a series of health issues during his final term in Washington.
After a fall in February, he began using a wheelchair and relying on assistance to move through the Capitol. He also suffered another fall in December 2024 that resulted in a sprained wrist.
He has additionally experienced several highly visible freezing incidents on camera. One of the most notable came in August 2023, when he stood silently for about 30 seconds after being asked if he planned to run for re-election in Kentucky, only weeks after stopping abruptly in the middle of a sentence during a press conference.
The then-81-year-old gave no response when pressed on his political future. He has since announced he will not run for re-election.
The longest-serving GOP Senate leader, McConnell first entered the Senate in 1985. He has long drawn the ire of Donald Trump and his MAGA supporters following a years-long feud.
His wife, Elaine Chao, served as Secretary of Transportation for most of Trump’s first term, but resigned in the wake of the January 6, 2021 Capitol attack.
Mitch McConell speaks in the US Senate chamber
In 2024, McConnell announced he would step down as Republican leader, ending an era that stretched back to 2007, clearing the way for John Thune to take the helm.
His retirement from the Senate opened up his Kentucky seat, and Congressman Andy Barr was selected during a May primary as the GOP nominee to succeed in November’s midterm elections.
Older lawmakers of both parties on Capitol Hill have been plagued with health scares, and even death.
Longtime Democrat David Scott, 80, suddenly died in April after mounting concerns over his advanced age.
Scott served as a representative from Georgia for 23 years and was the top Democrat on the House Agriculture Committee before being replaced by Angie Craig.
Republican Doug LaMalfa from California, 65, died during surgery in January.
In March, President Donald Trump revealed the terminal diagnosis of a member of the House GOP conference as well.
Republican congressman Neal Dunn, a father of three, has a terminal diagnosis, and Trump said at the time that the outlook was so grim that doctors pronounced ‘he would be dead by June.’
Speaker Mike Johnson, who was sitting next to the President, appeared stunned that day as Trump grinned at reporters.
‘Okay, that wasn’t public,’ Johnson quipped at the time.
Dunn had not planned to run for reelection in 2026.
Concerns about the health and average age of government leaders have been highly scrutinized in recent months as members of Congress of both political parties have experienced health scares, with some dying in office.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer was taken to hospital for dehydration as scorching temperatures in Washington, DC, reached 100 degrees last summer.
The 74-year-old was at the Senate gym in the morning and reportedly ‘got lightheaded,’ according to his office.
The top Democrat was taken to the hospital ‘out of an abundance of caution,’ his office also noted at the time.
However, a few prominent lawmakers have – finally – read the writing on the wall and are leaving Congress on their own terms.
Washington, DC, representative Eleanor Holmes Norton, 88, first planned to run for re-election to a 19th term. But she ultimately withdrew her bid in January.
And former House speaker Nancy Pelosi, 85, is not seeking re-election this year, after serving in Congress for 20 terms.
