Kentucky’s senior senator sustained apparently minor injuries from a fall Tuesday afternoon including a “minor cut on his face” and a sprained wrist, according to a spokesperson.
Reporters saw McConnell entering his office, followed by a medical team after falling following a Senate GOP lunch meeting. The spokesperson said McConnell has been cleared to resume his schedule.
McConnell previously suffered a health scare after a bad fall left him with a concussion in March 2023. After returning to his role, McConnell publicly froze twice while answering questions from reporters last year. McConnell’s doctor cleared him soon after to continue with his regular schedule.
The 82-year-old senator has not clarified if he intends to run for reelection in 2026. He is stepping down as the top Senate Republican and will be replaced by Senator John Thune of South Dakota. At a press conference after the incident, Thune told reporters that McConnell is “fine” in his office.
Speculation has swirled over whether McConnell intends to run for reelection in 2026 and who would run for the Republican nomination should he choose not to, but has said he fully intends to finish out his term.
Since he announced he would step down from leadership, McConnell has further cemented his legacy as the longest-serving Senate party leader in U.S. history. While touting his accomplishments, like remaking the American judiciary, McConnell has also insisted he will continue to advocate for U.S. involvement in world politics and conflicts, including support for the war in Ukraine.
Over the weekend, McConnell argued the U.S. must maintain America’s military power on the international stage in an indirect swipe at President-elect Donald Trump.
“Within the party Ronald Reagan once led so capably, it is increasingly fashionable to suggest that the sort of global leadership he modeled is no longer America’s place,” McConnell said at the annual Reagan National Defense Forum at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. “But let’s be absolutely clear: America will not be made great again by those who are content to manage our decline.”
State government and politics reporting is supported in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
