Addison Mitchell McConnell III is a prominent American politician and attorney currently serving as the senior United States Senator from Kentucky since 1985. He holds the distinction of being Kentucky's longest-serving senator. Notably, McConnell served as the leader of the Senate Republican Conference from 2007 to 2025, holding positions as both minority and majority leader. His tenure as Senate party leader from 2015 to 2021 marks him as the longest-serving Senate party leader in U.S. history.
From 1937 to 1949, Alben W. Barkley led the Democrats in the Senate, the first Kentuckian to serve as a party leader in the Senate
In 2014, McConnell's 60.2% win was the lowest voter support for a Kentucky U.S. senator in a primary since 1938.
On February 20, 1942, Addison Mitchell McConnell III was born. He is an American politician and attorney who has served as the senior United States Senator from Kentucky since 1985.
In 1944, at the age of two, Mitch McConnell's upper left leg was paralyzed by a polio attack. He received treatment at the Roosevelt Warm Springs Institute for Rehabilitation.
From 1937 to 1949, Alben W. Barkley led the Democrats in the Senate, the first Kentuckian to serve as a party leader in the Senate
In 1950, when he was eight years old, Mitch McConnell moved with his family from Athens to Augusta, Georgia, where his father was stationed at Fort Gordon.
In 1956, Mitch McConnell's family moved to Louisville, Kentucky, where he attended duPont Manual High School.
In 1963, Mitch McConnell attended the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, where Martin Luther King Jr. gave the "I Have a Dream" speech.
In 1964, Mitch McConnell graduated Omicron Delta Kappa from the University of Louisville with a B.A. in political science with honors.
In 1964, at the age of 22, Mitch McConnell attended civil rights rallies and interned with Senator John Sherman Cooper, inspiring him to run for the Senate later in life.
In March 1967, Mitch McConnell enlisted in the U.S. Army Reserve as a private at Louisville, shortly before the expiration of his educational draft deferment upon graduation from law school.
On July 9, 1967, Mitch McConnell began his first day of training at Fort Knox, Kentucky, two days after taking the bar exam.
On August 15, 1967, Mitch McConnell was honorably discharged from the U.S. Army Reserve after being diagnosed with optic neuritis and deemed medically unfit for military service.
In 1967, Mitch McConnell graduated from the University of Kentucky College of Law, where he was president of the Student Bar Association.
In 1968, McConnell was the first Republican to win a statewide election in Kentucky since 1968.
In 1968, Mitch McConnell began working as the chief legislative assistant to Senator Marlow Cook in Washington, D.C., a position he held until 1970.
In 1968, Mitch McConnell married his first wife, Sherrill Redmon.
In 1970, Mitch McConnell concluded his role as chief legislative assistant to Senator Marlow Cook.
In 1971, Mitch McConnell returned to Louisville, where he worked on Tom Emberton's unsuccessful campaign for governor of Kentucky. He also attempted to run for a seat in the state legislature but was disqualified.
In October 1974, Mitch McConnell returned to Washington to fill a position as Deputy Assistant Attorney General under President Ford.
In 1975, Mitch McConnell served as acting United States Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legislative Affairs under President Ford.
In 1977, Mitch McConnell was elected the Jefferson County judge/executive, defeating incumbent Democrat Todd Hollenbach III.
In 1980, Mitch McConnell divorced his first wife, Sherrill Redmon.
In 1981, Mitch McConnell was re-elected as Jefferson County judge/executive against Jefferson County Commissioner Jim "Pop" Malone.
In 1984, Mitch McConnell was elected to the U.S. Senate, defeating incumbent Walter Dee Huddleston by a narrow margin of 3,437 votes.
In 1985, Mitch McConnell began his tenure as the senior United States Senator from Kentucky, a position he has held since.
In 1990, Mitch McConnell was re-elected to the Senate, defeating Harvey I. Sloane by 4.4%.
In 1993, Mitch McConnell married Elaine Chao, who later became Secretary of Labor under President George W. Bush and Secretary of Transportation under President Donald Trump.
In 1996, Mitch McConnell defeated Steve Beshear by 12.6% in the Senate race.
In 1997, Mitch McConnell became the chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), a position he held until 2001.
In 1997, Mitch McConnell founded the James Madison Center for Free Speech, a legal-defense organization based in Washington, D.C.
On February 12, 1999, Mitch McConnell was one of 50 senators to vote to convict and remove Bill Clinton from office.
In 2001, Mitch McConnell's tenure as chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee concluded.
In 2002, Mitch McConnell was unopposed in the Republican primary. He then defeated Lois Combs Weinberg by 29.4%.
In February 2003, Mitch McConnell underwent a triple heart bypass surgery at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland.
In 2004, McConnell observed how Democratic cooperation with the Bush administration on No Child Left Behind and Medicare Part D helped Bush's reelection and concluded that Republicans have nothing to gain from collaborating with the President.
In 2006, after Republicans lost control of the Senate, they elected Mitch McConnell minority leader.
In 2007, Mitch McConnell became the leader of the Senate Republican Conference, a position he held until 2025. This included time as both minority and majority leader.
In 2007, Mitch McConnell publicly supported the Iraq War troop surge.
In 2008, Mitch McConnell and his wife received a gift worth about $5 million to about $25 million from her father, James S. C. Chao, after the death of his wife.
In 2008, Mitch McConnell defeated Bruce Lunsford by 6% in his closest contest since 1990.
In June 2009, after Barack Obama nominated Sonia Sotomayor as associate justice, Mitch McConnell and Jeff Sessions stated Sotomayor's 17 years as a federal judge and over 3,600 judicial opinions would require lengthy review and advocated against Democrats hastening the confirmation process.
In May 2010, after President Obama nominated Elena Kagan to succeed John Paul Stevens, Mitch McConnell said Americans wanted to ensure Kagan would be independent of White House influence and noted Obama had called Kagan a friend, before announcing his opposition to her confirmation.
In October 2010, Mitch McConnell stated that "the single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president."
In 2010, Mitch McConnell led opposition to stricter campaign finance laws, culminating in the Supreme Court ruling that partially overturned the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (McCain-Feingold).
In 2010, Mitch McConnell led opposition to stricter campaign finance laws, culminating in the U.S. Supreme Court decision Citizens United v. FEC, which partially overturned the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (McCain-Feingold).
In 2010, Mitch McConnell regularly obtained earmarks for businesses and institutions in Kentucky until Congress banned the practice.
In 2011, during the debt-ceiling crisis, Mitch McConnell learned that "it's a hostage that's worth ransoming," as the Republican caucus threatened to force the United States to default on its debt.
In 2012, a poll found that McConnell had the lowest home-state approval rating of any sitting senator at the time.
On March 1, 2013, Mitch McConnell was inducted into the Sons of the American Revolution.
In 2013, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid eliminated the filibuster for all presidential nominations except the Supreme Court.
The federal government shut down on October 1–17, 2013, after Congress failed to enact legislation to fund it.
During the 2014 election campaign, Mitch McConnell was lampooned for posting campaign B-roll footage online, leading to the term "McConnelling" for the practice of satirizing the B-roll footage.
In 2014, Mitch McConnell faced Matt Bevin in the Republican primary and won with 60.2%. He defeated Alison Lundergan Grimes in the general election, 56.2–40.7%.
In 2014, Mitch McConnell vowed Republicans would not force the U.S. to default on its debt or shut down the government when stopgap funding measures were set to expire.
In 2014, after Republicans gained control of the Senate, Mitch McConnell became majority leader. He used his power to initiate a near blockade of Obama's judicial appointments, leading to a historically low number of confirmed judges during Obama's final two years.
In 2014, following the Senate elections, Mitch McConnell became the Senate majority leader after Republicans took control of the Senate.
In 2015, Mitch McConnell became the Senate majority leader, serving until 2021 and becoming the longest-serving Senate party leader in U.S. history.
In 2015, Mitch McConnell was the only Republican to attend the funeral of Beau Biden, Joe Biden's son. His relationship with the Biden administration has been portrayed in media as one of comity.
In 2015, Time listed Mitch McConnell as one of the 100 most influential people in the world.
In 2015, Time listed Mitch McConnell as one of the 100 most influential people in the world.
On February 13, 2016, following the death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, Mitch McConnell issued a statement that the Senate would not consider any Supreme Court nominee put forth by President Obama, arguing that the American people should have a voice in the selection.
On March 16, 2016, despite McConnell's statement that the Senate would not consider any Supreme Court nominee put forth by President Obama, Obama nominated Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court. Senate Republicans, under McConnell's direction, refused to take any action on the nomination.
On May 4, 2016, after Rand Paul withdrew from the presidential race, Mitch McConnell endorsed Donald Trump as the presumptive nominee, despite disagreeing with him on many issues.
In May 2016, Mitch McConnell publicly disagreed with Donald Trump's suggestion that federal judge Gonzalo P. Curiel was biased because of his Mexican heritage, stating that Curiel was born in Indiana and that everyone in America came from somewhere else.
In July 2016, Mitch McConnell responded to Donald Trump's criticism of the parents of Humayun Khan, a Muslim-American soldier who was killed in Iraq, by stating that all Americans should value the patriotic service of those who defend the country.
In August 2016, Mitch McConnell stated that one of his proudest moments was when he told Barack Obama that he would not fill the Supreme Court vacancy.
On October 7, 2016, in response to the Donald Trump Access Hollywood controversy, Mitch McConnell stated that Trump needed to apologize directly to women and girls everywhere and take full responsibility for his comments on the tape.
In 2016, a poll found that McConnell had the lowest home-state approval rating of any sitting senator at the time.
On January 3, 2017, Merrick Garland's nomination expired, after Senate Republicans refused to take any action on the nomination.
In January 2017, President Trump nominated Neil Gorsuch to fill the Supreme Court vacancy left by Antonin Scalia's death.
On April 7, 2017, Neil Gorsuch's nomination to the Supreme Court was confirmed after Mitch McConnell eliminated the filibuster on Supreme Court nominees.
In April 2017, Senate Republicans led by McConnell eliminated the filibuster for Supreme Court nominations to end debate on the nomination of Neil Gorsuch.
In October 2017, after Stephen Bannon and other Trump allies blamed McConnell for stalling the Trump administration's legislation, McConnell cited Neil Gorsuch's confirmation to the Supreme Court to demonstrate the Senate's support for Trump's agenda.
In 2017, McConnell had the highest disapproval rating of any senator, with a 49% disapproval rate.
In 2017, McConnell led the passing of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act as Senate majority leader.
In 2017, McConnell's approval rating had been underwater. The Morning Consult found that it was 44% positive and 47% negative.
In 2017, Mitch McConnell was portrayed satirically in South Park's season 21 episode "Doubling Down".
In 2017, Mitch McConnell's reputation as a skilled political strategist was questioned after Republicans failed to repeal the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) despite consolidated Republican control of government.
In 2017, the record for the number of circuit court judges confirmed during a president's first year was broken.
In 2017, under Mitch McConnell's leadership, the Senate Republican majority passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
In April 2018, Mitch McConnell called the decision not to act on Merrick Garland's nomination to the Supreme Court "the most consequential decision I've made in my entire public career."
In June 2018, Mitch McConnell became the longest-serving Senate Republican leader in U.S. history.
In July 2018, Mitch McConnell stated that funding for the Mexico–United States border wall would likely be delayed until after the midterm elections.
In July 2018, President Donald Trump nominated Brett Kavanaugh to replace the retiring Anthony Kennedy as an associate justice of the Supreme Court. McConnell accused Democrats of creating an "extreme" distortion of Kavanaugh's record during his hearings.
On July 18, 2018, with Andy Oldham's Senate confirmation, Senate Republicans broke a record for the largest number of appeals court judiciary confirmations during a president's first two years; Oldham became the 23rd appeals court judge confirmed in Trump's term.
In September 2018, Christine Blasey Ford publicly alleged that Brett Kavanaugh had sexually assaulted her in 1982. McConnell affirmed that Judge Kavanaugh will be voted on here on the Senate floor.
In October 2018, Mitch McConnell said that if a Supreme Court vacancy were to occur in 2020, he would not repeat his 2016 decision to let the winner of the upcoming presidential election nominate a justice.
In December 2018, the Republican-controlled Senate unanimously passed an appropriations bill without funding for the border wall.
On December 22, 2018, the federal government shut down due to Congress's refusal to meet President Trump's demand for $5.7 billion in federal funds for a U.S.–Mexico border wall.
In 2018, McConnell led the passing of the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act as Senate majority leader.
In 2018, the OpenSecrets website ranked Mitch McConnell as one of the wealthiest members of the U.S. Senate, with a net worth of more than $25 million.
In 2018, the Senate Republican majority under Mitch McConnell's leadership passed the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act.
In the fourth quarter of 2018, McConnell had a 38% positive rating and a 47% negative rating among Kentuckians.
On January 25, 2019, the federal government shutdown ended, which had started due to Congress's refusal to meet President Trump's demand for $5.7 billion in federal funds for a U.S.–Mexico border wall.
In May 2019, Mitch McConnell's brother-in-law Gordon Hartogensis was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as director of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC). McConnell voted to confirm.
Data from the end of July through August 2019 (7/31–8/27) showed McConnell had 23% favorable and 48% unfavorable (−25.0 spread).
In August 2019, Mitch McConnell suffered a fall at his Louisville home, resulting in a fractured shoulder.
In August 2019, Mitch McConnell wrote an editorial for The New York Times strongly opposing the elimination of the filibuster on legislation.
In September 2019, the Morning Consult found that McConnell's approval rating had been underwater since the first quarter of 2017, when it was 44% positive and 47% negative.
On November 5, 2019, as the House of Representatives began public hearings on the impeachment of President Trump, Mitch McConnell expressed certainty that an impeachment trial would not lead to Trump's removal from office.
On December 14, 2019, after meeting with White House counsel Pat Cipollone and legislative affairs director Eric Ueland, Mitch McConnell announced he would be in total coordination with the White House counsel's office and Trump's representatives for the impeachment trial, stating there was "no chance" of the Senate convicting and removing Trump.
On December 17, 2019, Mitch McConnell rejected a request to call four witnesses for Trump's impeachment trial, arguing the Senate's role was to judge, not investigate. He also stated he was not an impartial juror, calling the trial a political process.
In 2019, Nancy Pelosi criticized Mitch McConnell for withholding votes on measures passed by the Democratic-controlled House during his time as Senate majority leader, including the For the People Act of 2019, the Equality Act, and the Paycheck Fairness Act.
In 2019, Time listed Mitch McConnell as one of the 100 most influential people in the world.
In 2019, Time listed Mitch McConnell as one of the 100 most influential people in the world.
In a 2019 interview, Mitch McConnell credited himself for the large number of judicial vacancies created during the last two years of Barack Obama's presidency.
By March 2020, Mitch McConnell had contacted an unknown number of judges, encouraging them to retire before the 2020 election.
On April 22, 2020, McConnell suggested that states should be able to declare bankruptcy instead of receiving additional COVID-19 aid funds. This comment was sharply criticized by state and local officials.
On September 10, 2020, Mitch McConnell's pared-down COVID-19 relief bill failed to pass the Senate due to a Democratic filibuster. Democrats considered the bill "completely inadequate."
In September 2020, after Ruth Bader Ginsburg died, Mitch McConnell announced the Senate would vote on Trump's nominated replacement.
In November 2020, Mitch McConnell was elected to his seventh term in the Senate, defeating Amy McGrath by nearly 20 percentage points.
In 2020, Mitch McConnell criticized then-President Trump's attempts to overturn the presidential election results.
In 2020, Mitch McConnell directed Senate Republicans in negotiations for two COVID-19 response packages: the Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2020 and the CARES Act.
In 2020, Susan Collins edged out McConnell as the least popular senator with a 52% unfavorable rating from Maine voters compared to 50% for McConnell.
In 2020, after Joe Biden defeated Trump in the election, McConnell initially refused to recognize Biden as the winner. While not repeating Trump's false claims of voter fraud, he also did not contradict them, arguing Trump had the right to challenge the results, and simultaneously celebrated Republican victories in Senate and House races.
On January 12, 2021, it was reported that Mitch McConnell supported impeaching Trump for inciting the 2021 storming of the United States Capitol, believing it would help Republicans purge Trump and rebuild the party.
Despite reports of initially supporting Trump's impeachment, on February 13, 2021, Mitch McConnell voted to acquit Trump, stating it was unconstitutional to convict a president no longer in office.
On April 10, 2021, Donald Trump publicly attacked Mitch McConnell, calling him a "dumb son of a bitch" and questioning whether McConnell had ever thanked him for hiring his wife. McConnell did not respond publicly to this attack.
On May 28, 2021, Mitch McConnell voted against the creation of an independent commission to investigate the January 6 United States Capitol attack, after seeking to organize Republican senators to filibuster it.
In October 2021, Mitch McConnell helped pass a bill that extended the debt ceiling by convincing 11 Republicans to vote with the Democrats, preventing the United States from defaulting on its debts.
In 2021, Mitch McConnell began his second stint as Senate Minority Leader, a position he held until 2025.
In March 2023, Mitch McConnell was hospitalized for five days after a fall, and was treated for a concussion and a minor rib fracture.
In July 2023, Mitch McConnell fell while disembarking from a plane at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
On July 26, 2023, Mitch McConnell froze, unspeaking, for around 20 seconds during a press conference, prompting worldwide media reports. He returned later and said he was "fine".
On August 30, 2023, Mitch McConnell again froze during a press conference in Covington, Kentucky, and was eventually led away by staff.
In 2023, Time listed Mitch McConnell as one of the 100 most influential people in the world.
In 2023, Time listed Mitch McConnell as one of the 100 most influential people in the world.
On February 28, 2024, Mitch McConnell announced that he would step down as the Senate Republican Conference Leader in January 2025 but would serve the remainder of his Senate term.
On December 10, 2024, Mitch McConnell sustained a fall during a Senate Republican Conference policy luncheon, spraining his wrist and cutting his face.
In 2024, Mitch McConnell stepped down as Senate Republican leader, months before the 2024 United States elections. John Thune was elected to succeed him after Republicans regained the majority in the 2024 U.S. Senate elections.
In late 2024, Mitch McConnell wrote an essay discussing his current views on American power and the foreign policy mistakes of former presidents.
In January 2025, Mitch McConnell will step down as the Senate Republican Conference Leader, a position he has held for many years.
On February 20, 2025, Mitch McConnell announced he would not run for an eighth Senate term in 2026 and would retire from politics.
In June 2025, Mitch McConnell supported Israel in the Iran–Israel War and called for military intervention by the United States against Iran.
In 2025, Mitch McConnell's tenure as leader of the Senate Republican Conference ended. He served as leader from 2007 to 2025, a historic tenure.
In 2026, Mitch McConnell plans to retire from politics after serving in the Senate since 1985.
In 2027, Mitch McConnell has announced he will retire at the end of his term in 2027, when he will be 84 years old.
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