McConnell falls and sprains wrist after GOP luncheon, colleague says he is ‘fine’

WASHINGTON — Republican leader in the Senate Mitch McConnell fell and sprained his wrist as he left a GOP luncheon on Tuesday, the latest in a string of medical incidents for him in recent years.

McConnell, who is that? resign from his leadership post at the end of the year, was walking out of his weekly celebratory lunch with Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming when he tripped and fell, Barrasso said, before walking back to his office alone. Minutes later, medical personnel were seen entering his office.

The longtime Republican leader, 82, also has a cut on his face, his office said, but “has been cleared to resume his schedule.” He did not attend a scheduled news conference immediately after lunch.

Barrasso, the Senate’s No. 3 leader and a physician, said McConnell was “fine” and “100 percent” alert after he tripped and fell.

McConnell later walked from his office to the Senate chamber for a vote, wearing a bandage on his left cheek and a brace on his left wrist.

His fall came after he had fallen admitted to hospital with a concussion in March 2023 and missed several weeks of work after falling at a downtown hotel. After his return, he froze twice that summer during press conferences, staring blankly into space before colleagues and staff came to his aid.

McConnell had polio in his early childhood and has long acknowledged that he had some difficulty walking and climbing stairs as an adult. In addition to his fall in 2023, he also tripped and fell at his home in Kentucky in 2019, causing a shoulder fracture that required surgery.

McConnell has been in the Senate since 1984 and has been Republican leader since 2007. Senator John Thune of South Dakota will be Senate Majority Leader next year, when Republicans regain the majority.

___

Associated Press writers Farnoush Amiri and Lisa Mascaro contributed to this report.