(DCWatchdog.com) – The leader of the Republican Party in the US Senate, Mitch McConnell, has been hospitalized with a concussion after he fell during a political event.
On Wednesday evening, 81-year-old McConnell (R-KY) attended a dinner for the Senate Leadership Fund at the Waldorf Astoria Washington DC hotel, formerly the Trump International Hotel.
During the event of the campaign committee aligned with him that the Senate Minority leader tripped and fell, Newsmax reported.
McConnell will remain hospitalized “for a few days of observation and treatment,” his spokesman informed on Thursday after it became clear that the top Republican is missing from the Senate.
“[Senator McConnell] is grateful to the medical professionals for their care and to his colleagues for their warm wishes,” spokesman David Popp told reporters.
Popp announced that the US senator from Kentucky was being treated for a concussion.
However, McConnell’s office did not disclose any further details about his condition, nor did it say how long he won’t be present in the Senate.
In a post on Twitter, Democrat President Joe Biden wished McConnell a “speedy recovery,” saying he looked forward to seeing the top Republican back on the Senate floor.
The No. 2 Republican in the Senate, John Thune of South Dakota, told reporters that he hadn’t spoken to McConnell but said the latter had delivered remarks “as usual” during the dinner.
“Evidently, it happened later in the evening,” said Thune, who also attended the event but left earlier for another reception and didn’t see McConnell fall.
The Senate Minority Leader suffered a similar incident in 2019 when he tripped and fell at his home in Kentucky. As a result, he had to undergo surgery for a shoulder fracture.
The incident happened just as the Senate had begun its summer recess, and McConnell worked from home for several weeks.
The Kentucky Republican was first elected to the US Senate in 1984. In January, with the inauguration of the new US Congress, he became the longest-serving Senate leader, breaking the previous record of 16 years.
At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, McConnell revealed that he fought polio as a child. He recounted how his mother helped him work through a physical therapy regime.
The top Senate Republican also disclosed that he had experienced some difficulty climbing stairs in adulthood.
On Thursday morning, Senate Majority Leader, Democrat Chuck Schumer, said on the Senate floor that he had spoken with McConnell’s staff “to extend my prayers and well wishes.”
“I joined every single one of my colleagues in wishing Leader McConnell a speedy and full recovery,” Schumer declared.
Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell was absent from the Senate Thursday after being hospitalized for treatment of a concussion suffered in a fall at a local hotel Wednesday evening. https://t.co/LlAQjeVoUd
— NEWSMAX (@NEWSMAX) March 9, 2023
