Mitch McConnellthe longest-serving senator in Kentucky’s history, has again drawn public attention to his health following a recent hospitalization for flu-like symptoms, and concerns continue to mount as he prepares to end his decades-long career in Washington.
The 83-year-old lawmaker was hospitalized in early February 2026 due to ill health and missed several Senate votes while under medical observation, his office said. On October 16, 2025, a few months after McConnell suffered another fall in the U.S. Capitol, he lost his balance in a hallway on his way to vote. Video captured him reaching for an assistant before collapsing to the ground, although he was helped minutes later and resumed his duties.
The October fall added to a growing list of health-related incidents in recent years. In July 2023, McConnell made headlines after he froze mid-sentence during a press conference, prompting aides to pick him up. Although he later returned and said he was “fine,” a similar episode occurred about a month later. The exact cause of those incidents has not been made public yet.
Earlier in 2025, McConnell announced on February 20 — his birthday — that he would not seek re-election in 2026, marking the end of a Senate career that spanned nearly four decades. On the Senate floor, the politician shared his decision, saying, “My fellow Kentuckians have sent me to the Senate seven times. Every day I am humbled by the faith they place in me to do their business here. It is the honor of a lifetime to represent our commonwealth. I will not seek this honor for an eighth time. My current term.”
In light of his decision to step down after so long, we’ve rounded up all the details we know about McConnell’s health. Read on to learn about McConnell’s health history.
Mitch McConnell has fallen several times today and is in a wheelchair pic.twitter.com/pDd03oBgQl
— Max Cohen (@maxpcohen) February 5, 2025
Mitch McConnell’s Falls
McConnell suffered another setback on October 16, 2025 when he went to vote in the Senate office hallway. He was filmed grabbing an assistant’s hand before losing his balance and falling. He was quickly assisted and able to vote, his office said, “and ready to vote again.”
This latest collapse adds to a complicated pattern of incidents: McConnell previously fractured his shoulder (2019), suffered a concussion and rib injury in a fall in 2023, and later that year Ronald Reagan injured his face while exiting a plane at Washington National Airport.
In February 2025, he fell twice in the Capitol after the vote, briefly requiring the use of a wheelchair. A spokesperson for McConnell’s team assured the public that he was “doing fine” and indicated that “the lingering effects of polio in his left leg will not disrupt his regular work schedule.” NBC News.
Mitch McConnell’s heart surgery
In 2003, McConnell underwent elective coronary artery bypass surgery Roll call. At that time, Dr. Alan Spear noted that Politician’s “postoperative course is uneventful and the prognosis is excellent for a complete and uneventful recovery.”
Mitch McConnell’s History of Polio
When he was a toddler, McConnell contracted polio in 1944, and the disease paralyzed his upper left leg. Although paralysis is a less common side effect of the disease, polio syndrome can continue to affect a patient years after recovery from the virus.
In an old campaign ad, McConnell pointed out that his family was “almost broke” trying to pay his polio-related expenses.
Is Mitch McConnell retiring?
Yes, on February 20, 2025, McConnell officially announced that he would not seek re-election in 2026, stating that his current Senate term (which ends in January 2027) would be his last.
