Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) has been hospitalized with “flu-like symptoms,” in the latest health challenge for the 83-year-old former Republican Senate leader.
McConnell, a childhood polio survivor who has suffered a string of health setbacks in recent years, checked himself into the hospital Monday night, his spokesman said.
“In an abundance of caution, after experiencing flu-like symptoms over the weekend, Senator McConnell checked himself into a local hospital for evaluation,” spokesman David Popp said in a statement.
The onetime GOP powerhouse’s “prognosis is positive,” Popp added.
“He is grateful for the excellent care he is receiving … and looks forward to returning to Senate business,” Popp said.
McConnell, who has sometimes clashed with President Trump, announced last year that he would retire when his current term runs out after the 2026 elections.
If McConnell dies or resigns, Kentucky law directs Gov. Andy Beshear to pick a replacement from a list of three Republicans picked by GOP leaders in the Bluegrass State.
He was the longest-serving Senate leader in U.S. history and one of the older sitting senators after a four-decade career.
McConnell’s health has been a regular talking point in recent year, including freezing up on camera several times and suffering a concussion in a December 2023 fall. He fractured his shoulder when he tripped and fell at his home in Kentucky in 2019.
Once known as an unshakable Republican loyalist and a wily master of Senate procedure, McConnell turned against Trump after the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol.
But he balked at the effort to impeach Trump and effectively gave Trump a new political lease on life by blocking his conviction in the Senate, which would have banned him from running for president again.
McConnell stepped down as Senate Republican leader in November 2024 after Trump’s comeback presidential election victory.
In Trump’s second term, McConnell has become somewhat of an independent voice. He voted against three of Trump’s high-profile nominees, including Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
McConnell has also publicly criticized the tariffs at the center of Trump’s economic agenda and fiercely defended aid to Ukraine as it seeks to fend off the Russian invasion.
