Photo: The Canadian Press
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell.
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell tripped and fell at a hotel on Wednesday and was taken to hospital, a spokesman for the senator said.
McConnell, 81, was attending a private dinner at a local hotel when he stumbled. Spokesman Doug Andress said he was taken to hospital for treatment.
In 2019, the Republican leader, a polio survivor, tripped and fell at his home in Kentucky, fracturing his shoulder. Around this time, he underwent surgery to repair a broken shoulder. Senate had just started the summer recess and he worked from home for a few weeks while he recuperated.
The silent McConnell is often reluctant to talk about his private life. But at the start of the COVID-19 crisis, he opened up about his early childhood experience fighting polio. He described how his mother insisted on having him swabbed as a young child and put him on a specific physical therapy regimen. He admitted that he had difficulty climbing stairs as an adult.
First elected in 1984, McConnell became the longest-serving leader in the Senate when the new Congress convened, breaking the previous record of 16 years.
The Senate, where the average age is 65, has recently been deprived of many members due to illness.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., 90, said she was hospitalized last week for treatment for shingles.
Sen. John Fetterman, 53, who suffered a stroke while campaigning last year, was expected to be out for a few weeks while he received treatment for clinical depression.
