After McConnell hospitalized with ‘flu-like symptoms,’ prognosis is ‘positive’
Sen. Mitch McConnell has been hospitalized with “flu-like symptoms,” according to a spokesperson from the senator’s office.
The 83-year-old senator, who is not running for reelection this year, has a “positive” prognosis after being checked into a hospital in Washington Monday night.
“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. His prognosis is positive and he is grateful for the excellent care he is receiving. He is in regular contact with his staff and looks forward to returning to Senate business,” the spokesperson wrote.
This is the latest in a string of public health scares dating back to at least March 2023, when McConnell tripped at a dinner event in Washington, D.C., and was admitted and then discharged from the hospital several days later.
In 2023, he twice froze for prolonged periods in front of cameras.
A polio survivor, McConnell also fell in public once in 2024 and twice last year.
The senator has declined to weigh in publicly on the contentious Republican race to replace him. One competitor, Lexington entrepreneur Nate Morris, has positioned himself as anti-McConnell; former Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron, a longtime mentee of the senator, claims that the McConnell network has moved on from him and is backing Rep. Andy Barr, the leading fundraiser in the race.
McConnell has served Kentucky in the Senate since his underdog electoral win against the late Dee Huddleston in 1984. He’s won seven elections to the Senate, most recently by large margins.
He served from 2007 to 2025 as leader of the Senate Republican Conference, making him the longest-serving party leader in U.S. Senate history.
In a lengthy 2025 interview with the Herald-Leader, McConnell said that his highest-impact legacy item will be denying former Democratic President Barack Obama from filling a vacancy on the United States Supreme Court. That move allowed him to work with President Donald Trump during Trump’s first term to appoint three conservative justices to the nation’s high court, tipping its balance in favor of conservatives for years to come.
“As I go toward the end zone of my career, I would like everybody to be able to say, ‘You know, I actually had an impact in a positive way on the country,’” McConnell said in the September 2025 interview.
KY Sen. Mitch McConnell: Freezes, falls and public health scares
March 8, 2023: Fall sends McConnell to the hospital with a concussion
At a dinner event in Washington, McConnell tripped and was later admitted into a hospital for treatment.
However, the public did not learn the then-Senate minority leader had suffered a concussion until about 13 hours after his office said he’d visited the hospital, McClatchy reported. At the time, he was expected to remain hospitalized.
During a previous fall in 2019, McConnell fractured his shoulder at his home in Kentucky and recovered from the injury.
March 13, 2023: McConnell is discharged from hospital stay, heads to therapy
McConnell was discharged from a Washington hospital March 13, 2023, and underwent physical therapy at an inpatient rehab facility before returning home, a statement from a spokesperson said at the time.
While remaining in the hospital over the course of the previous weekend, McConnell’s medical team discovered he had also fractured a rib.
April 13, 2023: McConnell announces he’ll return to the Senate
After spending more than five weeks recovering from his fall, McConnell announced his return to the Senate the following week.
“I am looking forward to returning to the Senate on Monday,” McConnell posted on X, then Twitter. “We’ve got important business to tackle and big fights to win for Kentuckians and the American people.”
May 23, 2023: Staffers assist McConnell at University of Kentucky event
During a groundbreaking event at the University of Kentucky in Lexington in late May of that year, McConnell briefly spoke to reporters. Members of his staff asked reporters to speak up when asking questions.
The outdoor event took place with several hundred attendees as the senator fielded questions. Staffers had to repeat some questions for McConnell.
July 26, 2023: McConnell freezes for more than 20 seconds at Washington press conference
While giving a statement at a news conference held in the U.S. Senate building, McConnell froze for more than 20 seconds and appeared unable to speak before colleagues escorted him away from the podium. McConnell later returned and said “I’m fine.”
Aug. 30, 2023: Another public freeze
In a second freeze, this time at a press conference in Northern Kentucky, McConnell fell silent for more than 30 seconds after a reporter asked a question.
In Covington, McConnell was asked about running for reelection in 2026. He asked the reporter to repeat the question and after a moment’s pause, aide Robbin Taylor repeated the question to the senator. McConnell was led away, then the news conference resumed with a staff repeating questions to McConnell.
Asked about the incident at the time, a spokesperson for the senator said McConnell “felt momentarily lightheaded and paused during his press conference today.”
Dec. 10, 2024: Luncheon fall
After a fall that followed a Senate GOP lunch in Washington, McConnell required medical attention for injuries, including a sprained wrist and a small cut on his face. Medical professionals were seen entering the senator’s office after the event, and he was later “cleared to resume his schedule” a spokesperson wrote at the time.
Feb. 5, 2025: McConnell falls down stairs
McConnell fell down a set of stairs in Washington. A staffer later attributed it to “lingering effects of polio in his left leg.” The fall reportedly occurred after McConnell voted to confirm Scott Turner as secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
A reporter with news outlet Punchbowl News witnessed the fall, writing on X: “Sen McConnell just fell down the stairs on his way out of the chamber… He got up with the help from some senators and seemed to walk it off as he left.”
A spokesperson for McConnell’s office confirmed the fall in a press statement asserting the then-82-year-old senator was “fine.”
Oct. 16, 2025: Trip and fall caught on camera
McConnell, navigating a corridor at the Capitol accompanied by a security detail, stumbles and falls to the ground while being questioned by a member of The Sunrise Movement, a progressive group. The fall is caught on camera and widely circulated on social media.
The senator is assisted to his feet and turns and waves to the camera and crowd as he is escorted away.
A spokesperson later responds: “He’s all good — went on to vote and ready to vote again at 1:30 p.m. to see if (Democrats) decide to fund our nation’s defense priorities or not.”
Service journalism editor Jackie Starkey contributed to this report.
This story was originally published February 3, 2026 at 8:59 PM.
