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Mitch McConnell hospitalized with a concussion after a fall

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., speaks to reporters following a closed-door policy meeting, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, March 7, 2023.
J. Scott Applewhite
/
AP
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., speaks to reporters following a closed-door policy meeting, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, March 7, 2023.

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell was being treated at a local hospital after he fell at a hotel Wednesday evening, according to a spokesman.

The 81-year-old senator from Kentucky fell after he tripped at a hotel in Washington, D.C., his spokesman said.

"This evening, Leader McConnell tripped at a local hotel during a private dinner." McConnell spokesman Doug Andres said in a statement released early Thursday. He has been admitted to the hospital where he is receiving treatment."

No additional details were provided about McConnell's condition.

McConnell is a survivor of polio from his childhood, when he was diagnosed before a vaccine had been developed. In 2018, he cited his personal battle as motivation to eradicate the disease around the world.

"I think it's under-appreciated outside the public health community just how much hard work and innovation has to continue after a disease has dropped off the front pages," McConnell said in a report from Roll Call. He warned that without continued support, "progress could erode rapidly."

Currently the Senate minority leader, McConnell was first elected in 1984 to the U.S. Senate. He is the longest-serving Senate Republican leader in history.

Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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Claudia Grisales is a congressional reporter assigned to NPR's Washington Desk.
Ximena Bustillo
Ximena Bustillo is a multi-platform reporter at NPR covering politics out of the White House and Congress on air and in print.