Former Senate Leader Mitch McConnell has been hospitalized for over a week, and his office is refusing to say why.
“Senator McConnell is still working closely with staff on Senate business and Kentucky matters as he continues his recovery,” spokesperson Stephanie Penn said Monday. “However, he will not be voting this week.”
The Kentucky Republican, 84, was rushed to an undisclosed hospital on June 14, but the cause of the hospitalization has never been released.
“Senator McConnell was admitted to the hospital this morning. He is receiving excellent care,” his office said the day he was admitted.
The following day: “Senator McConnell is fully engaged with staff on Senate business and Kentucky matters and is very appreciative of the outstanding care he is receiving.”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters last week that he had spoken with McConnell directly, but declined to disclose his health status.
“He sounded good,” Thune said. McConnell “wants to be back, but I’ll defer to his staff on when.” Thune only added that McConnell is “clearly dialed into what’s going on” with the Senate.
McConnell missed the June 16 vote on a War Powers resolution backed by Democrats aimed at forcing Trump to withdraw U.S. forces from the Iran conflict. The measure failed narrowly, 47-48.
This is McConnell’s second time being hospitalized this year. In February, he spent eight days hospitalized for “flu-like symptoms.”
McConnell’s health has been rapidly declining in recent years. The longtime senator fell at the Capitol in October 2025. He sprained his wrist in a fall outside a GOP luncheon in December 2024. He fell at a Washington hotel in March 2023, suffering a concussion and a fractured rib that kept him out of the Senate for six weeks. He fractured his shoulder in a fall at his Kentucky home in 2019.
He has also frozen mid-sentence on multiple occasions, including a scary episode in July 2023 where he stared blankly for 20 seconds before aides quietly escorted him away.
McConnell announced last year he will not seek reelection, and his final term ends in January 2027… but his latest hospitalization raises questions over whether he can even finish his last term in office. His aides have given no hint of when he is expected to return to the Senate… if ever