Mitch McConnell admitted to hospital with ‘flu-like symptoms’ | Republicans

The Republican senator Mitch McConnell was admitted to a hospital on Monday night due to “flu-like symptoms”, his office said in a statement.

“In an abundance of caution, after experiencing flu-like symptoms over the weekend, Senator McConnell checked himself into a local hospital for evaluation last night,” the statement reads. “His prognosis is positive and he is grateful for the excellent care he is receiving.”

McConnell, 83, missed votes in the Senate on Monday and Tuesday, according to Politico. A polio survivor, he has struggled with his mobility in recent years, repeatedly taking falls.

He suffered a concussion after tripping and falling at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in Washington in 2023, an episode that left him briefly using a wheelchair. He has also frozen up in multiple instances during press conferences, becoming non-responsive during interviews.

Last year, video surfaced of McConnell falling in a hallway in the Capitol as a woman asked him whether he agreed with ICE “taking working people off the streets and kidnapping them”.

McConnell is a towering figure in the Senate, where he led the Republican caucus from 2007 to 2025 and played a key role in reshaping the federal judiciary into a more conservative image.

The Kentucky senator said last year he would not seek re-election in 2026, after a more than 40-decade career in the US Senate.

One-third of US senators are over 70 years of age.