GOP leader Mitch McConnell is hospitalized after fall, his spokesman says

NPR Staff

March 08, 2023 / 9:27 pm

caption: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., speaks to reporters following a policy meeting at the Capitol Tuesday.

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell was being treated at a local hospital after he fell at a hotel Wednesday evening, according to a spokesman.

The 81-year-old senator from Kentucky fell after he tripped at a hotel in Washington, D.C., his spokesman said.

"This evening, Leader McConnell tripped at a local hotel during a private dinner," McConnell spokesman Doug Andres said in a statement released early Thursday. "He has been admitted to the hospital where he is receiving treatment."

No additional details were provided about McConnell's condition, though a source familiar with the event confirmed McConnell fell at the Waldorf Astoria in Washington, D.C.

A District of Columbia Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department spokesman told NPR they received a call for a fallen adult male at 9:17 p.m. Wednesday at 1100 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, which is the address for the Waldorf Astoria. They transported the man to an area hospital.

GOP Sen. John Cornyn of Texas wished McConnell a speedy recovery in a tweet Thursday morning.

McConnell is a survivor of polio from his childhood, when he was diagnosed before a vaccine had been developed. In 2018, he cited his personal battle as motivation to eradicate the disease around the world.

"I think it's under-appreciated outside the public health community just how much hard work and innovation has to continue after a disease has dropped off the front pages," McConnell said in a report from Roll Call. He warned that without continued support, "progress could erode rapidly."

McConnell was first elected in 1984 to the U.S. Senate. He is the longest-serving Senate Republican leader in history.