Who is Mitch McConnell? Why is the Senate Minority Leader in the news?

Mitch McConnell, Senate Minority Leader, United States is in the news for his health issues. Let us know more about the Senate Minority Leader.

Born in Tuscumbia, Alabama, United States, on February 20, 1942, Mitch McConnell is an American politician who commenced the first term of his political career while representing Kentucky in the United States Senate in the year 1985. He served as a majority whip from 2003 to 2007, as a minority leader from 2007 to 2015 and then from 2021 to the present, and as a majority leader from 2015 to 2021 as a Republican.

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Early Life

In his childhood years, McConnell was afflicted with polio, but later he overcame the disease. When he was just 13 years old, his family shifted to Lousiville, Kentucky from Alabama. In the year 1964, Mitch McConnell graduated from the University of Lousiville. In the year 1967, he graduated from the University of Kentucky Law School. McConnell served as a legislative assistant to the United States Sen. Marlow Cook from the year 1968 to 1970. The man then served as a deputy assistant United States attorney general in the administration of Pres. Gerald R. Ford from the year 1974 to 1975. He then served as a judge of Jefferson County Kentucky from the year 1978 to 85.

The man got married in the year 1993 to Elaine Chao, who served as secretary of labor. She also served as a secretary of transportation under Pres. Donald Trump. Earlier, McConnell was married to Sherrill Redmon and has three children out of that marriage.

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Career

In the year 1984, McConnell was elected to the United States Senate and became the very first Republican since the year 1968 to win the statewide elections in Kentucky. In the year 1995, he was the chairman of the Senate Ethics Committee, and he received nationwide attention for resisting the investigation attempts against Republican Se. Bob Packwood of Oregon for sexual assault accusations.

Moreover, McConnel threatened to bring forward such investigations into the Democratic politicians who were charged with similar accusations in the past. However, he later changed his say about Packwood. 

McConnel has created for himself an image of a tough opponent of campaign spending limits and campaign finance reform. He has incessantly given his vote against such measures from the 1990s. Some of these were actually sponsored by his fellow Republicans.

Another controversy came into the life of McConnell when in 2016, he refused to bring Merrick Garland, Obama's Supreme Court nominee to a vote in the Senate. McConnel stated in a claim that as it was an election year, the vacancy should actually remain open until a new president came. At the time of the presidential race of 2016, the man supported Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, who eventually got elected in the elections.

Why is Mitch McConnell in the news?

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell froze while talking to the reporters after the reporters asked about reelection in the year 2026. McConnell began the answer, but he couldn't continue further as he paused and remained silent for about seven seconds.

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