McConnell Treated for Concussion, to Remain in Hospital
WASHINGTON — Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is being treated for a concussion after tripping at a dinner event Wednesday night and is expected to remain in the hospital for a few days, his spokesman said Thursday afternoon.
McConnell, 82, fell after an event for the Senate Leadership Fund — a Republican super PAC aligned with McConnell and GOP leadership — at the Waldorf Astoria in Washington.
According to the District of Columbia Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department, an unidentified “adult male” was transported from the Waldorf Astoria at 9:17 p.m. Wednesday, and the call was dispatched after a report of a fall at the hotel.
For several hours afterward, however, there was no update on McConnell’s condition.
On Thursday morning, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said on the Senate floor that he’d called McConnell and spoken with his staff.
“My thoughts this morning are with my good friend, Leader Mitch McConnell, who is recovering in the hospital after an accident last night,” Schumer said. “This morning I offer a prayer of strength and healing for the leader and his family. I called the leader this morning and spoke briefly with his staff to extend my prayers and well wishes.”
The statement from McConnell spokesman David Popp was brief but upbeat, noting that the Republican leader was remaining in the hospital only for a few days “of observation and treatment.”
“The leader is grateful to the medical professionals for their care and to his colleagues for their warm wishes,” Popp said.
McConnell was first elected to the Senate in 1984, and in 2020 was reelected to serve a seventh term.
He was the Senate majority leader from 2015 until early 2021, when Democrats became the majority after the 2020 elections.
