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. He has been admitted to the hospital where he is receiving treatment” said McConnell spokesman Doug Andres.
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.”
Currently the Senate minority leader, McConnell was first elected in 1984 to the U.S. Senate. In 2018 he became the longest-serving Senate leader before losing that position in 2021.
