Mitch McConnell
Mitch McConnell won his first Senate race in 1984 by 3,437 votes out of more than 1.2 million cast, a margin of just over 0.4 percent. He was the only Republican Senate challenger to win that year, even though Ronald Reagan carried the presidential race in a landslide.
Decades later, McConnell had become the longest-serving party leader in the history of the United States Senate. Admirers saw a master strategist. Critics saw an obstructionist, and his opponents handed him a long list of nicknames.
How did a child paralyzed by polio at the age of two end up running the Senate? What did he do with that power, and who felt the consequences? And why did a man who once blocked a Supreme Court nominee, then watched three of Donald Trump's nominees reach the Court, come to be described as largely irrelevant in Trump's second term?
Colbert County Hospital in Sheffield, Alabama, is where Addison Mitchell McConnell III was born on the 20th of February 1942. His parents were Julia Odene, known as Dean, and Addison Mitchell McConnell II, called A.M. He grew up in Athens, Alabama, where his grandfather and his great-uncle owned McConnell Funeral Home. His family is of Scots-Irish and English descent, and an ancestor named James McConnell fought on the American side in the Revolutionary War.
Polio struck in 1944, when he was two years old. It paralyzed his upper left leg while he and his mother were staying with an aunt in Five Points, Alabama. Treatment at the Roosevelt Warm Springs Institute for Rehabilitation potentially saved him from lifelong disability. The medical bills were heavy, and McConnell has said his family 'almost went broke.'
The McConnells kept moving. In 1950, when Mitch was eight, his father's Army posting at Fort Gordon took the family to Augusta, Georgia. In 1956 they settled in Louisville, Kentucky, where he attended DuPont Manual High School and was elected student council president in his junior year.
The year 1963 took him to the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, where Martin Luther King Jr. gave the 'I Have a Dream' speech. He graduated with honors from the University of Louisville in 1964 with a degree in political science. He also led the student council of its College of Arts and Sciences and joined the Phi Kappa Tau fraternity. At 22 he attended civil rights rallies and interned for Senator John Sherman Cooper. McConnell says that internship inspired him to run for the Senate someday. In 1967 he finished at the University of Kentucky College of Law, where he presided over the Student Bar Association.
Graduation came with a deadline. In March 1967 his educational draft deferment was about to expire, so he enlisted as a private in the Army Reserve at Louisville. The post was coveted, because Reserve units were mostly kept out of combat during the Vietnam War. His first day of training at Fort Knox, Kentucky, was the 9th of July 1967, two days after he took the bar exam. Soon after arriving he was diagnosed with optic neuritis and judged medically unfit. His last day was the 15th of August 1967, and he received an honorable discharge. Political opponents have raised that brief service in campaign after campaign.
From 1968 to 1970 he worked in Washington as chief legislative assistant to Senator Marlow Cook. He ran a legislative department of five people and helped with speeches and constituent services. In 1968 he also married Sherrill Redmon. They had three daughters, Porter, Eleanor, who is called Elly, and Claire, before their divorce in 1980.
Back in Louisville in 1971, he worked on Tom Emberton's unsuccessful campaign for governor. His own bid for the state legislature collapsed when he was disqualified for not meeting the residency requirements. He took a job at the law firm Segal, Isenberg, Sales and Stewart and taught a night class in political science at the University of Louisville.
In October 1974 he returned to Washington as Deputy Assistant Attorney General under President Ford. His colleagues there included Robert Bork, Laurence Silberman and Antonin Scalia. In 1975 he also served as acting Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legislative Affairs.
Voters first chose him in 1977, when he was elected Jefferson County judge/executive, then the top political office in the county. He beat the Democratic incumbent Todd Hollenbach III, 53% to 47%. In 1981 he won again against county commissioner Jim 'Pop' Malone, 51% to 47%, while outspending him three to one.
The politician of those years looked nothing like the one critics later described. In the 1960s and 1970s he supported abortion rights, unions and the civil rights movement. One of his biographers later traced the distance he traveled, from a moderate Republican who supported abortion rights and public employee unions to 'the embodiment of partisan obstructionism and conservative orthodoxy on Capitol Hill.'
Television ads in the 1996 Kentucky Senate race warned voters not to 'Get BeSheared,' and they showed sheep being sheared. The pun aimed at the Democratic challenger, Steve Beshear. McConnell won by 12.6%, even though Bill Clinton narrowly carried Kentucky at the top of the ticket.
His first victory in 1984 had unseated Walter Dee Huddleston, a two-term Democratic incumbent. McConnell was the first Republican to win a statewide election in Kentucky since 1968. He also benefited from Reagan's popularity, since 60% of Kentucky voters backed the president that year.
In 1990 he faced Harvey I. Sloane, a former mayor of Louisville, and won by 4.4%. By 2002 he was unopposed in the Republican primary. He then beat Lois Combs Weinberg by 29.4%. His 2008 race against Bruce Lunsford was the closest since 1990, and he won by 6%.
In 2014 a Louisville businessman named Matt Bevin challenged him in the Republican primary. McConnell took 60.2%, the lowest share for a Kentucky senator in a primary since 1938. In the general election he defeated Alison Lundergan Grimes, the state's Democratic Secretary of State, by 56.2% to 40.7%.
The 2020 contest pitted him against Amy McGrath, a former Marine fighter pilot, and a Libertarian named Brad Barron, a businessman and farmer. McConnell and McGrath agreed to a single hour-long, socially distanced debate on the 12th of October. On the 3rd of November he won his seventh term by nearly 20 percentage points.
Those victories fed a climb through the Republican ranks in Washington. From 1997 to 2001 he chaired the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the body charged with winning Senate seats for the party. On the 12th of February 1999 he was one of 50 senators who voted to convict Bill Clinton and remove him from office. He had been elected Majority Whip when Bill Frist chose not to seek reelection in 2006. After Republicans lost the Senate that November, they elected McConnell minority leader. The 2014 elections returned the majority to his party, and he became majority leader. In June 2018 he became the longest-serving Republican leader in Senate history.
Only one other Kentuckian had ever led a party in the Senate. That was Alben W. Barkley, who led the Democrats from 1937 to 1949.
In October 2010, McConnell said that 'the single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president.' Asked whether that meant constant confrontation, he allowed that 'if Obama is willing to meet us halfway on some of the biggest issues, it's not inappropriate for us to do business with him.'
Scholars saw a method behind the stance. Political scientists Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson wrote that McConnell worked to deny even minimal Republican support for major presidential initiatives. Many of those initiatives, they noted, matched moderate positions of decades past. The New York Times observed early in Obama's term that on health care, financial regulation and the stimulus package, McConnell had held Republican defections between minimal and nonexistent.
University of Texas legal scholar Sanford Levinson traced the logic to the Bush years. In his telling, McConnell watched Democratic cooperation on No Child Left Behind and Medicare Part D help Bush win reelection in 2004. Levinson wrote that McConnell 'altogether rationally... concluded that Republicans have nothing to gain, as a political party, from collaborating in anything that the president could then claim as an achievement.'
Purdue political scientist Bert Rockman noted that party-line voting was nothing new. Still, he wrote, 'rarely has the tactic of oppositionism been so boldly stated as McConnell did.'
Time itself became a weapon. Scholars observed that slowing even routine measures ate up scarce floor time. Democratic leaders were forced to choose which bills were worth the fight, and that limited the volume of liberal legislation the Senate could pass.
Debt was another lever. The Republican caucus repeatedly threatened to force the United States into default. After the 2011 debt-ceiling crisis, McConnell said he had learned that 'it's a hostage that's worth ransoming.'
The filibuster was his most common tool as minority leader. Under Senate rules, any senator may keep speaking unless 60 senators vote for cloture, which ends debate. Political scientists call this kind of procedural play 'constitutional hardball.' Hacker and Pierson explained its appeal: 'Filibusters left no fingerprints.' When a bill died, they wrote, journalists rarely stressed that a minority had blocked a majority.
By 2013, nearly half of all cloture votes in Senate history had taken place during Obama's presidency. That year Majority Leader Harry Reid eliminated the filibuster for all presidential nominations except the Supreme Court. A number of political scientists, historians and legal scholars argue that McConnell's obstruction contributed to democratic erosion in the United States.
Yet in August 2019, McConnell wrote an editorial in The New York Times strongly opposing any move to eliminate the filibuster on legislation.
Sonia Sotomayor had served 17 years as a federal judge and written more than 3,600 opinions. In June 2009 McConnell and Jeff Sessions said that record demanded lengthy review, and they urged Democrats not to hasten her confirmation. On the 17th of July McConnell announced he would vote no. In August he called her 'a fine person with an impressive story and a distinguished background,' but doubted she would set aside her personal or political views on the bench. She was confirmed days later.
Elena Kagan's nomination in May 2010, to succeed the retiring John Paul Stevens, drew another no. McConnell said Americans wanted assurance she would be independent of the White House, noting that Obama called her a friend. He also said she was not forthcoming enough about her 'views on basic principles of American constitutional law.' She was confirmed the next month.
Real power arrived when Republicans won the Senate in 2014. The New York Times counted 18 district court judges and one appeals court judge confirmed in Obama's last two years, the fewest since Harry S. Truman. The Los Angeles Times counted 22 confirmations, the lowest since 1951-52. By comparison, the final two years under Reagan, Clinton and George W. Bush each produced between 55 and 70 district judges and between 10 and 15 appeals judges. At the end of Obama's term, the number of federal judicial vacancies was more than twice what it had been at the end of Bush's. In a 2019 interview, McConnell took credit for that pile of vacancies.
Then, on the 13th of February 2016, Justice Antonin Scalia died. McConnell soon announced that the Senate would not consider any Supreme Court nominee from Obama. 'The American people should have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court justice. Therefore, this vacancy should not be filled until we have a new president,' he said.
Obama nominated Merrick Garland, a judge of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, on the 16th of March. Senate Republicans took no action at McConnell's direction. The nomination expired on the 3rd of January 2017, when the 114th Congress ended.
McConnell later boasted about it. In an August 2016 speech in Kentucky he called it one of his proudest moments, recalling how he had looked Obama in the eye and said, 'Mr. President, you will not fill the Supreme Court vacancy.' In April 2018 he called it 'the most consequential decision I've made in my entire public career.' Scholars called the refusal unprecedented, 'a blatant abuse of constitutional norms,' and a 'classic example of constitutional hardball.'
In January 2017 Trump nominated Neil Gorsuch to Scalia's seat. McConnell eliminated the filibuster for Supreme Court nominees, and Gorsuch was confirmed on the 7th of April 2017.
On the 18th of July 2018, Andy Oldham became the 23rd appeals court judge confirmed in Trump's term. That broke the two-year record of 22 set under George H. W. Bush. McConnell called the judiciary the longest-lasting legacy of Trump's first two years. By March 2020 he had contacted an unknown number of judges to encourage them to retire before the election. Over Trump's four years, he confirmed 260 federal judges and shifted the federal judiciary to the right.
In July 2018 Trump named Brett Kavanaugh to replace the retiring Anthony Kennedy. McConnell accused Democrats of distorting Kavanaugh's record. In September, Christine Blasey Ford publicly alleged that Kavanaugh had sexually assaulted her in 1982. When reports surfaced that Democrats were investigating a second allegation, McConnell said, 'Judge Kavanaugh will be voted on here on the Senate floor.' Kavanaugh was confirmed on the 6th of October. McConnell called the process a low point for the Senate but rejected claims that it was 'somehow broken.'
In October 2018 McConnell said that if a vacancy opened in 2020, he would not repeat his 2016 choice. He argued that the 2016 precedent applied only because the Senate then had a different party in control than the presidency. After Ruth Bader Ginsburg died in September 2020, he announced a vote on Trump's nominee. Debate on Amy Coney Barrett began on the 23rd of October, and she was confirmed on the 26th.
Rand Paul, Kentucky's other senator, had McConnell's endorsement for president in 2016. When Paul withdrew after the Iowa caucuses, McConnell endorsed the presumptive nominee, Donald Trump, on the 4th of May 2016. The endorsement did not mean agreement.
That same month, Trump suggested that federal judge Gonzalo P. Curiel was biased because of his Mexican heritage. McConnell answered, 'I don't agree with what Trump had to say. This is a man who was born in Indiana. All of us came here from somewhere else.' In July, Trump criticized the parents of Humayun Khan, a Muslim-American soldier killed in Iraq. McConnell said all Americans should value the patriotic service of those who volunteer to defend the country.
On the 7th of October, after the Access Hollywood controversy, McConnell said, 'As the father of three daughters, I strongly believe that Trump needs to apologize directly to women and girls everywhere.' In private, he reportedly expressed disdain for Trump and abhorred his behavior.
The friction ran both ways. In October 2017, White House chief strategist Stephen Bannon and other Trump allies blamed McConnell for stalling the administration's legislation. McConnell pointed to Gorsuch's confirmation as proof that the Senate backed Trump's agenda.
The record did include real legislation. Under McConnell's leadership, the Senate passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 and the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act in 2018. It also passed the First Step Act and the Great American Outdoors Act. One failure stung. In 2017, with Republicans in control of government, the effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act collapsed, and McConnell's reputation as a tactician dimmed.
Shutdowns tested the partnership. The federal government had closed from the 1st to the 17th of October 2013. McConnell then vowed that Republicans would not force a default or a shutdown in 2014. In July 2018 he said border wall funding would probably have to wait until after the midterm elections. Two days later, Trump tweeted that he was willing to allow a shutdown to get the money.
The real fight came from the 22nd of December 2018 to the 25th of January 2019. Trump demanded $5.7 billion for a border wall. In December the Senate had unanimously passed a spending bill without wall money, and the House and Trump seemed ready to accept it. Then right-wing media outlets and pundits criticized Trump for appearing to back down on his campaign promise. He announced he would sign nothing without wall funding.
McConnell had privately advised Trump against the shutdown. Publicly, he blocked the Senate from voting on spending bills and said it was not his place to mediate. By the 23rd of January he had blocked four Senate bills to reopen the government. He urged Democrats to back a Trump-supported package that paired the $5.7 billion with a temporary extension of protections for DACA recipients. Other Republican senators pressured him privately to relent.
The shutdown ended when Trump signed a three-week funding measure that included no wall money. At 35 days, it was the longest government shutdown in American history.
The COVID-19 pandemic brought another reversal. McConnell first opposed the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, calling it a Democratic 'ideological wish list.' He changed course when Trump endorsed it, and it passed the Senate 90-8. He also directed Republicans in talks on the Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Supplemental Appropriations Act and the CARES Act. The CARES Act was the largest economic stimulus in American history, equal to 10% of gross domestic product.
On the 22nd of April 2020, McConnell suggested on a radio show that states should be able to declare bankruptcy instead of receiving more aid. State and local officials sharply criticized the idea. States cannot declare bankruptcy. In May he said Congress should 'hit pause' on further relief, and a pared-down bill he crafted failed on the 10th of September 2020 to a Democratic filibuster. McConnell said the vote was meant to put lawmakers on record about compromise.
On the 5th of November 2019, as House hearings on impeaching Trump began in public, McConnell predicted the outcome. 'If it were today, I don't think there's any question. It would not lead to a removal,' he said. On the 14th of December he met White House counsel Pat Cipollone and legislative affairs director Eric Ueland. He then promised 'total coordination with the White House counsel's office' and said there was 'no chance' the Senate would convict.
On the 17th of December, he rejected a request to call four witnesses. The Senate's role, he said, was to act as judge and jury, not to investigate. That day he also told the media, 'I'm not an impartial juror.' He added, 'This is a political process. There's not anything judicial about it.' After the acquittal, commentators noted that he had kept Republican senators marching in lockstep.
The 2020 election changed the tone. After Joe Biden defeated Trump, McConnell at first refused to recognize the result. He did not repeat Trump's false claims of voter fraud, but he did not contradict them either. He argued instead that Trump had the right to challenge the results. Meanwhile he celebrated the Republicans who won their Senate and House races in the same election.
On the 15th of December, the day after the electoral college vote, he reversed himself. 'Today, I want to congratulate President-elect Joe Biden,' he said.
On the 6th of January, he spoke against the effort to overturn the result. 'If this election were overturned by mere allegations from the losing side, our democracy would enter a death spiral,' he warned. Later that day he described the storming of the Capitol as a 'failed insurrection' that 'tried to disrupt our democracy.'
On the 12th of January 2021, it was reported that McConnell supported impeaching Trump. He reportedly believed it would make it easier for Republicans to purge the party of Trump and rebuild. The next day, he declined to reconvene the Senate for an emergency session, claiming unanimous consent was required. He called for delaying the trial until after Biden's inauguration.
On the 13th of February 2021, McConnell voted to acquit. The vote to convict was 57-43, a bipartisan majority but short of the two-thirds threshold. Then came a 20-minute speech on the Senate floor. He said there was no question that Trump was 'practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of that day.' His reason for acquitting was constitutional. 'The entire process revolves around removal,' he argued. 'If removal becomes impossible, conviction becomes insensible.' He added that Trump 'didn't get away with anything yet,' because criminal and civil laws still applied to a former president.
On the 10th of April 2021, Trump publicly insulted McConnell in crude terms. He added, 'I hired his wife. Did he ever say thank you?' Trump has kept up personal attacks since, and McConnell has not responded publicly. On the 28th of May, McConnell voted against creating an independent commission to investigate the Capitol attack, after trying to organize a Republican filibuster against it.
His relationship with the next president was portrayed as friendly. Biden has called McConnell a friend, a colleague and a man of his word. McConnell praised bipartisan legislation they worked on together. He was the only Republican to attend the 2015 funeral of Biden's son Beau. In October 2021 he helped pass a bill extending the debt ceiling, convincing 11 Republicans to vote with the Democrats. Without those votes, the United States would have defaulted.
A 2012 poll and a 2016 poll each found that McConnell had the lowest home-state approval of any sitting senator. In 2017 his 49% disapproval was the highest of any senator. Morning Consult found his Kentucky rating underwater from the first quarter of 2017, at 44% positive and 47% negative. By the second quarter of 2019 it stood at 36% positive and 50% negative. He netted -56 among Democrats, +29 among Republicans and -24 among Independents. In 2020, Susan Collins edged him out as the least popular senator, with 52% unfavorable in Maine to his 50%.
His detractors have used many nicknames, including 'Moscow Mitch,' 'Cocaine Mitch,' the 'Grim Reaper,' 'Darth Vader,' 'Rich Mitch,' 'Nuclear Mitch,' 'Midnight Mitch' and 'Old Crow.' McConnell embraces several of them. He has objected strenuously to 'Moscow Mitch.' Jon Stewart repeatedly mocked him on The Daily Show for resembling a turtle or tortoise. Beck Bennett played him in Saturday Night Live sketches, and South Park lampooned him in a 2017 episode titled 'Doubling Down.'
In the 2014 campaign, McConnell posted campaign B-roll footage online for allied PACs to use. Internet posters spliced it with clips from sitcoms and movies and with popular music. The practice earned its own verb: McConnelling. Time still listed him among the 100 most influential people in the world in 2015-2019 and 2023.
His finances drew attention too. In 2018 OpenSecrets ranked him among the wealthiest members of the Senate, with a net worth above $34 million. In 2008 he and his second wife, Elaine Chao, whom he married in 1993, received a gift worth between $5 million and $25 million from her father, James S. C. Chao. Chao went on to serve as Secretary of Labor under George W. Bush and Secretary of Transportation under Trump.
His body has been a recurring story. In February 2003 he underwent triple heart bypass surgery at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, because of blocked arteries. In August 2019 he fractured his shoulder in a fall at his Louisville home. In March 2023 he spent five days in the hospital after another fall, treated for a concussion and a minor rib fracture. He did not return to the Senate for almost six weeks.
In July 2023 he fell while getting off a plane at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. On the 26th of July 2023, he froze for around 20 seconds, unspeaking, at a press conference, and aides escorted him away. He returned and said he was 'fine.' On the 30th of August 2023, he froze again at a press conference in Covington, Kentucky. The next day he released a letter from the attending physician of Congress calling him 'medically clear.' The letter did not say the physician had physically examined him.
On the 28th of February 2024, McConnell announced he would step down as Senate Republican leader in January 2025. At an internal election on the 13th of November, South Dakota senator John Thune was chosen to succeed him. On the 20th of February 2025, McConnell announced he would not seek an eighth term, after growing concern about his health.
In Trump's second term, McConnell has been described as largely irrelevant. He voted against three cabinet nominees: Pete Hegseth for Defense, Tulsi Gabbard for National Intelligence and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for Health and Human Services. He fell at a Senate Republican luncheon on the 10th of December 2024, spraining his wrist and cutting his face. On the 16th of October 2025, he fell at the Capitol while an amateur reporter approached him, and the cameraman recorded it. In February 2026 he spent eight days in the hospital with flu-like symptoms. His current term runs through 2027, and he has said he will retire then.
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Common questions
How close was Mitch McConnell's first Senate win in 1984?
He won by 3,437 votes out of more than 1.2 million cast, just over 0.4 percent. He was the only Republican Senate challenger to win that year.
What did McConnell do after Justice Antonin Scalia died in 2016?
He announced that the Senate would not consider any Supreme Court nominee from President Obama. Merrick Garland was nominated on the 16th of March 2016, and Senate Republicans took no action until the nomination expired on the 3rd of January 2017.
Why did McConnell vote to acquit Trump in the second impeachment trial?
He argued that the Constitution's impeachment provision revolves around removal from office, so conviction could not apply to someone who had already left. He still said Trump was practically and morally responsible for provoking the Capitol attack.
How many federal judges did McConnell confirm during Trump's first term?
He confirmed 260 federal judges during Trump's four-year term, which shifted the federal judiciary to the right.
Is McConnell leaving the Senate?
He stepped down as Senate Republican leader in 2025 and announced on the 20th of February 2025 that he would not run for an eighth term. He has said he will retire at the end of his term in 2027.
All sources
308 references cited across the entry
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- 15NewsFact Check: Did U.S. pay for McConnell's polio treatment?Carole Fader — July 22, 2017
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- 17In 1990, Mitch McConnell Supported Affordable Healthcare for AllJesse Hicks — June 26, 2017
- 18BookThe Long Game: a MemoirMitch McConnell — Penguin — 2016
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- 41McConnell becomes longest-serving senator from KentuckyJanuary 14, 2009
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- 47The Myth of Mitch McConnell, Political Super-GeniusAdam Jentleson — September 28, 2017
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- 64NewsPaul Ryan and Mitch McConnell Reject Donald Trump's Words, Over and Over, but Not His CandidacyLarry Buchanan et al. — October 8, 2016
- 65MagazineHow Mitch McConnell Became Trump's Enabler-In-ChiefJane Mayer — April 12, 2020
- 66News'You May Need The Money More Than I Do': McConnell Once Returned Trump's DonationEric Mennel et al. — July 11, 2019
- 67NewsMitch McConnell fires back at criticism against GOPUria, Daniel — October 22, 2017
- 69NewsPresident-Elect Joe Biden's Transition: Live Updates as McConnell Backs Trump's Refusal to ConcedeEmily Cochrane et al. — November 9, 2020
- 70McConnell declines in floor speech to congratulate Biden as president-electIan Swanson — November 9, 2020
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- 73McConnell defends Trump's refusal to concede to BidenAxios — November 9, 2020
- 74NewsMcConnell for the first time recognizes Biden as President-electDecember 15, 2020
- 75NewsAnalysis Mitch McConnell's forceful rejection of Trump's election 'conspiracy theories'Amber Phillips — January 6, 2021
- 76NewsResuming electoral counting, McConnell condemns the mob assault on the Capitol as a 'failed insurrection.'Nicholas Fandos et al. — January 6, 2021
- 77NewsTrump slashes at McConnell as he reiterates election falsehoods at Republican eventJosh Dawsey — April 11, 2021
- 80McConnell says Senate would acquit Trump if trial held todayLevine, Marianne — November 5, 2019
- 81NewsMcConnell indicates he'll let Trump's lawyers dictate Trump's impeachment trialAaron Blake — December 14, 2019
- 82McConnell says he'll be in 'total coordination' with White House on impeachment trial strategyJordain Carney — December 12, 2019
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- 86McConnell displays mastery of Senate with impeachment victoryAlexander Bolton — February 7, 2020
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- 90McConnell won't agree to reconvene Senate early for impeachment trialAlexander Bolton — Capitol Hill Publishing Corp. — January 13, 2021
- 95McConnell blames Trump but voted not guilty anywayAlex Rogers et al. — February 13, 2021
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- 100Debt ceiling: What's next for the US debt limitOctober 15, 2021
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- 102MagazineThe Price of American RetreatMitch McConnell — December 16, 2024
- 103McConnell Finally Defies Trump, Now That He's IrrelevantEd Kilgore — February 12, 2025
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- 105Mitch McConnell announces he'll retire, ending his four-decade Senate careerFebruary 20, 2025
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- 108McConnell went 'nuclear' to confirm Gorsuch. But Democrats changed Senate filibuster rules first.Timm, Jane C. — June 28, 2018
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- 111NewsMitch McConnell: The Filibuster Plays a Crucial Role in Our Constitutional OrderMcConnell, Mitch — August 22, 2019
- 112NewsHow the Trump Administration Is Remaking the CourtsJason Zengerle — August 22, 2018
- 113NewsParties Plot Strategy as Sotomayor Visits CapitolDavid M. Herszenhorn et al. — June 2, 2009
- 114NewsMcConnell, Bunning agree: They'll vote no on SotomayorAbdullah, Halimah — July 17, 2009
- 115NewsSotomayor Confirmed by Senate, 68-31Charlie Savage — August 6, 2009
- 116NewsTop Republican challenges Kagan's independenceFerraro, Thomas — May 12, 2010
- 117NewsMcConnell Opposes KaganStolberg, Sheryl Gay — July 2, 2010
- 118Senate votes to confirm Kagan to Supreme CourtDwyer Arce — August 5, 2010
- 119This Congress filled the fewest judgeships since 1952. That leaves a big opening for TrumpDavid Savage — December 31, 2016
- 120NewsThree More Judges Said to be Vetted for Supreme CourtHirschfeld Davis, Julie — March 4, 2016
- 121NewsMcConnell throws down the gauntlet: No Scalia replacement under ObamaBurgess Everett et al. — February 13, 2016
- 122NewsObama Chooses Merrick Garland for Supreme CourtMichael D. Shear et al. — March 16, 2016
- 123News170-Plus Days And Counting: GOP Unlikely To End Supreme Court Blockade SoonNina Totenberg — NPR — September 6, 2016
- 124NewsPresident Obama's Supreme Court Nomination of Merrick Garland ExpiresJess Bravin — January 3, 2017
- 126Tea Party-Aligned Kentucky Gov May End 95-Year Democratic ReignAlex Roarty — August 8, 2016
- 127NewsMcConnell on midterm elections: 'The wind is going to be in our face'Roger Alford — April 3, 2018
- 128BookThe Trump Presidency: Outsider in the Oval OfficeSteven E. Schier et al. — Rowman & Littlefield — 2017
- 129Constitutional Hardball vs. Beanball: Identifying Fundamentally Antidemocratic TacticsJed Handelsman Shugerman
- 130BookThe Obama Presidency and the Politics of ChangePalgrave Macmillan — 2017
- 131BookThe People vs. DemocracyYascha Mounk — Harvard University Press — 2018
- 132NewsTrump picks Colo. appeals court judge Neil Gorsuch for Supreme CourtRobert Barnes — January 31, 2017
- 133NewsNeil Gorsuch Confirmed by Senate as Supreme Court JusticeAdam Liptak et al. — April 8, 2017
- 134Senate confirms a top Abbott adviser, Andrew Oldham, to the 5th Circuit Court of AppealsEmma Platoff — July 18, 2018
- 135Senate GOP poised to break record on Trump's court picksJordain Carney — July 16, 2018
- 136NewsMitch McConnell is quietly urging federal judges to retire ahead of 2020 electionBailey, Phillip M. — March 16, 2020
- 137NewsMcConnell Has a Request for Veteran Federal Judges: Please QuitHulse, Carl — March 16, 2020
- 138NewsMcConnell accuses Dems of trying to 'bork' KavanaughJordain Carney — July 12, 2018
- 139NewsMcConnell promises Senate vote on KavanaughCarney, Jordain — September 24, 2018
- 140NewsBrett Kavanaugh confirmed to Supreme CourtClare Foran — October 7, 2018
- 141NewsKavanaugh Is Sworn In After Close Confirmation Vote in SenateSheryl Gay Stolberg — October 6, 2018
- 142NewsMcConnell: 'Simply inaccurate' that Senate is broken after Kavanaugh fightBrett Samuels — October 7, 2018
- 143NewsMcConnell signals he would push to fill a Supreme Court vacancy in 2020 despite 2016 exampleViebeck, Elise — October 9, 2018
- 144McConnell vows Trump's nominee to replace Ginsburg will get Senate vote, setting up historic fightClare Foran et al. — September 19, 2020
- 146NewsMcConnell: No more shutdownsPalmer, Anna — October 28, 2013
- 147McConnell: 'Remember me? I am the guy that gets us out of shutdowns' CNN PoliticsDana Bash — August 28, 2014
- 148NewsMcConnell said wall funding would 'probably' have to wait until after midterms. Trump threatened a shutdown two days laterJamie Ehrlich — July 30, 2018
- 149NewsSenate approves sweeping bill on defense, domestic spendingCarney, Jordain — October 23, 2018
- 150NewsMcConnell knocks Dems for rejecting Trump's 'reasonable request' on borderCarney, Jordain — December 22, 2018
- 151NewsMcConnell suggests shutdown could last for weeksCarney, Jordain — January 2, 2019
- 152McConnell keeps his head down as government shutdown drags onJohn Bresnahan et al. — January 4, 2019
- 153Senate Democrats pushed a vote to reopen the government. Mitch McConnell shot them down.Ella Nilsen — January 10, 2019
- 154NewsMitch McConnell could end the shutdown. But he's sitting this one out.Colby Itkowitz — January 11, 2019
- 155NewsMcConnell blocks bill to reopen most of governmentCarney, Jordain — January 23, 2019
- 156News'This is your fault': GOP senators clash over shutdown inside private luncheonSean Sullivan et al. — January 25, 2019
- 157NewsMcConnell Faces Pressure From Republicans to Stop Avoiding Shutdown FightSheryl Gay Stolberg et al. — January 3, 2019
- 158NewsTrump signs bill to end shutdown and temporarily reopen governmentLauren Gambino et al. — January 25, 2019
- 159NewsThe Government Shutdown Was the Longest Ever. Here's the History.Mihir Zaveri et al. — January 9, 2019
- 160NewsMcConnell: House coronavirus bill an 'ideological wish list'Carney, Jordain — March 12, 2020
- 161NewsThe twisted politics of Washington's coronavirus responseAllen, Jonathan — March 12, 2020
- 162NewsMcConnell tells GOP to pass House coronavirus bill: 'Gag and vote for it anyway'Schultz, Marisa — March 17, 2020
- 165All of the COVID-19 stimulus bills, visualizedMarch 11, 2021
- 166NewsMcConnell Says He Favors Letting States Declare BankruptcySteven T. Dennis et al. — April 22, 2020
- 167NewsWith Go-Slow Approach, Republicans Risk Political Blowback on Pandemic AidHulse, Carl — May 15, 2020
- 168NewsIn Stimulus Talks, McConnell Is Outside the Room and in a Tight SpotHulse, Carl — August 5, 2020
- 169NewsMcConnell: Time to restart coronavirus talksCarney, Jordain — August 11, 2020
- 170NewsMcConnell goes hands-off on coronavirus relief billBolton, Alexander — August 6, 2020
- 171NewsSenate Democrats block $300 billion coronavirus stimulus package, leaving little hope for relief before NovemberHayes, Christal — September 10, 2020
- 172NewsSenate Republicans fail to advance coronavirus stimulus bill as stalemate drags onPramuk, Jacob — September 10, 2020
- 173NewsHow McConnell is maneuvering to keep the Senate in GOP hands — and navigating TrumpRaju, Manu — September 10, 2020
- 174NewsSchumer says Democrats won't fold to GOP's 'emaciated' stimulus billStracqualursi, Veronica — September 9, 2020
- 175NewsSenate fails to advance slimmed-down GOP coronavirus relief billSegers, Grace — September 10, 2020
- 176Which States Give Their US Senators the Lowest Marks?Ostermeier, Dr. Eric — November 29, 2015
- 177MagazinePoll: The most unpopular senatorCirilli, Kevin — December 12, 2012
- 179NewsAmerica's Most and Least Popular Senators: McConnell loses spot as least popular senatorYokley, Eli — January 10, 2019
- 182NewsSusan Collins surpasses Mitch McConnell as the most unpopular senator in a new pollBehrmann, Savannah — January 17, 2020
- 185McConnell vows to be 'grim reaper' of socialist Dem proposalsGregg Re — April 22, 2019
- 186NewsMitch McConnell: 'For the first time in my memory, I agree with Nancy Pelosi'Charles Creitz — June 13, 2019
- 188NewsHow McConnell and Schumer beat hardline conservatives on UkraineBurgess Everett et al. — April 24, 2024
- 189NewsMcConnell pushes back on Biden conditions on aid to IsraelMay 10, 2024
- 190NewsSenate Roll Call: Iraq ResolutionOctober 11, 2002
- 191NewsMcConnell: Troop Surge In Iraq Showing Early Signs Of SuccessMarch 5, 2007
- 192NewsTrump's Iran dilemma exposes bitter split among Maga faithfulJune 18, 2025
- 193NewsSen. Mitch McConnell's Political Life, Examined, In 'The Cynic'November 20, 2014
- 194NewsMcConnell: GOP out of legislative options to fight gay marriageBurgess Everett — July 1, 2015
- 195NewsDee upset by McConnell in close raceMark R. Chellgren — November 7, 1984
- 197BookAmerican Government 12/13Robert Costa — McGraw-Hill Higher Education — 2013
- 200NewsMitch McConnell Likes The Corny Wordplay With His Political Opponents' Last NamesLinkins, Jason — July 11, 2013
- 202NewsConservative challenger takes on top Senate RepublicanAshley Killough — July 24, 2013
- 203McConnell Records Weakest Kentucky US Senate Incumbent Primary Victory in 75+ YearsEric Ostermeier — May 20, 2014
- 204NewsMitch McConnell Wins Re-Election, A.P. Says, as Republicans Make Election Day PushNovember 4, 2014
- 206NewsAmy McGrath wins Kentucky Senate Democratic primary, CNN projectsGregory Krieg et al. — June 30, 2020
- 207NewsDebate set in McConnell-McGrath Senate race in KentuckyOctober 2, 2020
- 208NewsAmy McGrath vs. Mitch McConnell debate is onOctober 2, 2020
- 209Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell to debate challenger Amy McGrathBruce Schreiner — October 11, 2020
- 210NewsU.S. Senate Election ResultsNovember 3, 2020
- 211NewsReligious Leaders Press McConnell on Social IssuesLisa Autry — August 14, 2014
- 212NewsMitch McConnell Fast FactsFebruary 5, 2017
- 214How Daughters of High-Profile Republicans Became Progressive IconsKathleen Walsh — August 17, 2020
- 216NewsGirding for a Fight, McConnell Enlists His WifeJason Horowitz — May 13, 2014
- 218NewsChao confirmed as transportation secretaryTed Barrett — January 31, 2017
- 220NewsTrump nominates brother-in-law of Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell and Transportation Secretary Chao to run pension agencyDan Mangan et al. — May 15, 2018
- 221NewsWant to run an agency? It helps to know Mitch McConnellIan Kullgren — December 17, 2018
- 222NewsSenate Confirms Gordon Hartogensis as Director of PBGCMay 3, 2019
- 223Roll Call Vote 116th Congress – 1st SessionApril 30, 2019
- 224NewsMcConnell undergoes heart surgeryFebruary 3, 2003
- 226Sen. Mitch McConnell's health issues spotlight Kentucky's succession processSylvia Goodman — August 17, 2023
- 227Mitch McConnell returns to Senate floor day after freezing during news conferenceMatthew Keck — July 27, 2023
- 228McConnell fell recently at Washington, D.C.-area airport prior to Wednesday's freeze-upGarrett Haake et al. — July 26, 2023
- 229NewsMitch McConnell sprains wrist and cuts his face after fall in the CapitolTed Barrett et al.
- 230Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell, 83, fell to the ground in a Capitol hallway Thursday afternoon as he made his way to Senate votes.Lauren Peller — October 16, 2025
- 231Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell freezes mid-sentence and stares vacantly for around 20 seconds during press conferenceSamuel Osborne — July 27, 2023
- 232Mitch McConnell says he's 'fine' after freezing during news conferenceManu Raju et al. — July 26, 2023
- 233Mitch McConnell vows to serve his full term as Republican leaderSahil Kapur et al. — July 29, 2023
- 234Sen. Mitch McConnell appears to freeze again at a Kentucky eventFrank Thorp V. — August 30, 2023
- 235Capitol physician provides note on McConnell medically clearing him to continue his duties after yesterdays episode. Physician spoke to McConnell's neurology team and McConnell, per this noteBurgess Everett
- 236Capitol Hill doctor: No evidence McConnell has seizure disorder or experienced stroke when freezing before camerasManu Raju et al. — September 5, 2023
- 237NewsSen. Mitch McConnell discharged from hospital after experiencing 'flu-like symptoms'Frank Thorp V et al. — February 11, 2026
- 238Kentucky U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell admitted to the hospitalLeo Bertucci — June 14, 2026
- 239MagazineMitch McConnell Was Found Unconscious Before He Was Rushed to HospitalHafiz Rashid — July 1, 2026
- 240NewsHere's what we know about Sen. Mitch McConnell's healthBen Binday — July 7, 2026
- 241Paramedics responded to a 'cardiac arrest' at Mitch McConnell's home on day of hospitalizationFrank Thorp V et al. — July 1, 2026
- 242NewsMcConnell Has Been Hospitalized for 3 Weeks, and Aides Won't Say WhyCatie Edmondson — July 6, 2026
- 243Is Mitch McConnell dead? What we know about his healthNur Ibrahim — June 30, 2026
- 244Mitch McConnell's Office Won't Confirm If He's ConsciousJennifer Bendery — July 6, 2026
- 245MagazineMAGA Demands Proof Mitch McConnell Is Alive as His Office StonewallsEllie Houghtaling — July 7, 2026
- 247Senate GOP leaders say they've spoken with Mitch McConnellJuly 7, 2026
- 248NewsElaine Chao makes several reported appearances in China amid McConnell's hospitalizationJennifer Osting — July 7, 2026
- 250Letter to The Honorable Mitch McConnellAndy Beshear — July 8, 2026
- 251NewsRepublican leaders seek to quell Mitch McConnell speculation as rebellion growsDavid Smith et al. — July 8, 2026
- 25524RS HB 622
- 256Mitch McConnell mystery deepens as health questions remain unansweredDavid Smith — July 11, 2026
- 257NewsMcConnell says after weeks of speculation that hospitalization was due to a fallAnnie Grayer et al. — July 12, 2026
- 258McConnell moves to a rehabilitation center after hospital stay, shares photo with wifeMcKenna Horsley — July 12, 2026
- 259NewsIs Mitch McConnell's hospital photo real or fake? We asked an AI expertIan Hardwitt — July 13, 2026
- 260Is this Mitch McConnell photo real? There's no evidence of AI, despite claimsNur Ibrahim — July 13, 2026
- 261NewsMcConnell took a photo with that day's newspaper. The internet has questions.Ben Binday — July 13, 2026
- 262NewsMcConnell says a fall led to his hospitalization, breaking weeks of silence about health conditionMary Clare Jalonick — July 12, 2026
- 263Mitch McConnell's new photo flagged by many as Senator seen in 'same shirt': 'We deserve to have proof of life'Shuvrajit Das Biswas — July 19, 2026
- 265So No One's Talked to Mitch McConnell in Two Weeks?Margaret Hartmann — July 21, 2026
- 267Despite calls for Beshear to 'do something' about Mitch McConnell, the answer isn't so simpleMcKenna Horsley — July 22, 2026
- 268Now It's Mitch McConnell's Turn to Field "Is He Alive or Dead?" QuestionsJim Vorel — July 6, 2026
- 269McConnell health update demanded by Gov. Beshear as Senate vacancy questions growLuke Fountain — July 8, 2026
- 270'We're testing the law' | What happens if Sen. Mitch McConnell resigns or dies before his term ends?Sean DeLancey — July 8, 2026
- 272Is Mitch McConnell secretly deceased?Arwa Mahdawi — July 11, 2026
- 273NewsThe Mitch McConnell mystery is solved. But it doesn't look good for AmericaMoira Donegan — July 15, 2026
- 274Sen. Mitch McConnell discharged from rehab center following hospitalization in mid-JuneRebecca Shabad — August 6, 2026
- 275NewsMitch McConnell expected to return to Senate this weekJordain Carney et al. — Politico — September 14, 2026
- 276Today, I'll cast my first Senate vote since I took a bad fall back in June. I'm really looking forward to being back on the Senate floor and seeing my colleagues.Mitch McConnell — September 14, 2026
- 278Mitch McConnell Returns to Senate on Monday, September 14, 2026, Casting His First Vote After a Three-Month Absence Following a FallCatherine Mills — September 14, 2026
- 280Mitch McConnell Returns to Senate — He Just Cast the TIE BREAKING VoteCarmine Sabia — September 15, 2026
- 281McConnell's Senate Return Sparks More Questions About 84-Year-Old's HealthAlison Durkee — September 17, 2026
- 282Sen. McConnell Votes on Farm BillSeptember 16, 2026
- 283BookRepublican Leader: A Political Biography of Senator Mitch McConnellJohn David Dyche — Intercollegiate Studies Institute — 2009
- 284BookLawyers of the right: professionalizing the conservative coalitionAnn Southworth — University of Chicago Press — 2008
- 288NewsMembers' fortunes see steep declinesJohn Bresnahan — June 12, 2009
- 290JournalVoters Need to Know: Assessing the Legality of Redboxing in Federal ElectionsKaveri Sharma — March 26, 2021
- 291McConnelling - (Video Clip)March 14, 2014
- 292NewsHow 'McConnelling' came to be the hottest thing on the political webFuller, Jaime — March 14, 2014
- 293NewsMcConnell Embraces #McConnellingNewton-Small, Jay — March 17, 2014
- 294NewsMitch McConnell responds to 'Daily Show' turtle impersonationMay 13, 2015
- 295NewsJon Stewart Takes 'Slow-Talking Tortoise-Man' Mitch McConnell to Task – Again (Video)Maglio, Tony — November 7, 2014
- 296News'S.N.L.' Imagines the Impeachment Trial That Could Have BeenDave Itzkoff — February 2, 2020
- 297News'South Park' Review: 'Doubling Down' Is the Most Insightful Episode in YearsDi Placidio, Dani — November 9, 2017
- 298News'Moscow Mitch' Tag Enrages McConnell and Squeezes G.O.P. on Election SecurityHulse, Carl — July 30, 2019
- 299NewsMitch McConnell embraces his dark sideEverett, Burgess — May 19, 2019
- 300News'Rich Mitch':Republican Group That Infuriated Trump Takes Aim at Senate Leader in New AdNaughtie, Andrew — May 28, 2020
- 301McConnell called 'Midnight Mitch' for controversial proposed impeachment trial rulesBen Tobin — January 21, 2020
- 302NewsMitch McConnell responds to Trump's 'Old Crow' insult: 'It's quite an honor'July 13, 2021
- 303This Missing Mitch McConnell Meme Is Going Viral, And It's Absolutely RuthlessMatt Stopera — July 8, 2026
- 304Scott Jennings' alleged call with Mitch McConnell sparks hilarious internet trendAriel Messman-Rucker — July 8, 2026
- 305Gizmo Memes (@GizmoMemes) on XJuly 8, 2026
- 306Lisa Rinna's Brutal Mitch McConnell Joke Sparks BacklashJuly 8, 2026
- 307MagazineRecommended Reading on Mitch McConnellJoshua Green — January 5, 2011
- 309BookThe Price of Power: How Mitch McConnell Mastered the Senate, Changed America, and Lost His PartyMichael Tackett — Simon and Schuster — 2024