Mitch McConnell sits with his parents, Julia “Dean” and Addison Mitchell McConnell, in this image from the mid-1940s in Five Points, Alabama.
Gallery of Mitch McConnell
1944
Five Points, Alabama, United States
Mitch McConnell sits with his mother, Julia “Dean” McConnell, on a bench in this image from the mid-1940s in Five Points, Alabama.
Gallery of Mitch McConnell
1944
Five Points, Alabama, United States
Mitch McConnell is held by his father Addison Mitchell McConnell in front of a relative’s house in Five Points, Alabama, in 1944, shortly before he was stricken with polio.
Gallery of Mitch McConnell
1960
120 W Lee St, Louisville, KY 40208, United States
Mitch McConnell in the 1960 edition of the Crimson, a yearbook produced by duPont Manual High School.
College/University
Gallery of Mitch McConnell
1964
Louisville, Kentucky, United States
McConnell, right, attending a rally for civil rights in 1964.
Career
Gallery of Mitch McConnell
2013
First St SE, Washington, DC 20004, United States
The United States Vice President Joe Biden, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Republican-Kentucky), Representative Shelia Jackson Lee (Democratic-Texas) and others arrive on Capitol Hill on February 12, 2013, in Washington, D.C. Facing a divided Congress, Obama is expected to focus his speech on new initiatives designed to stimulate the United States economy. Photo by Charles Dharapak-Pool.
Gallery of Mitch McConnell
2014
First St SE, Washington, DC 20004, United States
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell answers questions following the weekly Republican policy luncheon at the United States Capitol on November 13, 2014, in Washington, DC. McConnell was re-elected as leader of the Senate Republican caucus earlier in the day. Photo by Win McNamee.
Gallery of Mitch McConnell
2017
First St SE, Washington, DC 20004, United States
United States President Donald Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell walk to a lunch with Senate Republicans on Capitol Hill, October 24, 2017, in Washington, DC. Trump joined the senators to talk about upcoming legislation, including the proposed GOP tax cuts and reform. Photo by Drew Angerer.
Gallery of Mitch McConnell
2017
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20500, United States
United States President Donald Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Republican-Kentucky) talk to reporters in the Rose Garden following a lunch meeting at the White House on October 16, 2017, in Washington, DC. Trump and McConnell tried to erase reporting that they were not on the same page with the GOP legislative agenda and priorities. Photo by Chip Somodevilla.
Gallery of Mitch McConnell
2017
First St SE, Washington, DC 20004, United States
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnel gives the thumbs-up to the media after the Senate voted to confirm Betsy DeVos as education secretary on Capitol Hill on February 7, 2017, in Washington, D.C. The historic 51-50 vote was decided by a tie-breaking vote from Vice President Mike Pence. Photo by Mario Tama.
Gallery of Mitch McConnell
2017
First St SE, Washington, DC 20004, United States
United States Senate Majority Leader Senator Mitch McConnell walks towards the Senate chamber with aides after the House passed a bill to temporary fund the government through January 19 and averted a shutdown on December 21, 2017, at the Capitol in Washington, DC. The Senate is expected to vote on the bill soon. Photo by Alex Wong.
Gallery of Mitch McConnell
2019
Washington, DC., United STates
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell walks to a press conference with fellow Republicans following the weekly Republican policy luncheon on July 30, 2019, in Washington, DC. McConnell answered a range of questions including the pending senate agenda, and election security questions. Also pictured are Senator John Barrasso, Senator Todd Young, Sen. John Thune, and Senator Joni Ernst. Photo by Win McNamee.
Gallery of Mitch McConnell
2019
50 Constitution Ave NE, Washington, DC 20002, United States
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell attends a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing for Kenneth Charles Canterbury Jr. and judicial nominees on July 31, 2019, in Washington, DC. The committee met to hear testimony on Canterbury’s nomination as the Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, and the nomination of four federal judges. Photo by Win McNamee.
Gallery of Mitch McConnell
2019
First St SE, Washington, DC 20004, United States
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell walks to the Senate floor for a vote on legislation advancing McConnell's plan voicing opposition to United States President Donald Trump's intention of withdrawing United States troops from Afghanistan and Syria on January 31, 2019, in Washington, DC. Photo by Win McNamee.
Gallery of Mitch McConnell
2020
120 Constitution Ave NE, Washington, DC 20002, United States
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell arrives for the weekly Senate Republican policy luncheon in the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill on June 09, 2020, in Washington, DC. Photo by Chip Somodevilla.
Gallery of Mitch McConnell
2020
400 S 2nd St, Louisville, KY 40202, United States
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, delivers his victory speech next to his wife, Elaine Chao, at the Omni Louisville Hotel on November 3, 2020, in Louisville, Kentucky. McConnell has reportedly defeated his opponent, Democratic United States Senate candidate Amy McGrath, marking his seventh consecutive United States Senate win. Photo by Jon Cherry.
Gallery of Mitch McConnell
2020
First St SE, Washington, DC 20004, United States
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell holds a press conference after the Senate voted to acquit President Donald Trump on the two articles of impeachment brought by the House of Representatives to the Senate for trial on Capitol Hill on February 5, 2020, in Washington, DC.
Gallery of Mitch McConnell
2020
First St SE, Washington, DC 20004, United States
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell walks to the Senate floor at the United States Capitol on July 30, 2020, in Washington, DC. Photo by Drew Angerer.
Gallery of Mitch McConnell
2020
120 Constitution Ave NE, Washington, DC 20002, United States
Mitch McConnell speaks to members of the press as Senate Majority Whip Senator John Thune listens after a weekly Senate Republican Policy Luncheon at Hart Senate Office Building August 4, 2020, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. Senate Republicans held a weekly policy luncheon to discuss GOP agenda. Photo by Alex Wong.
Gallery of Mitch McConnell
2020
First St SE, Washington, DC 20004, United States
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell stand for the presentation of colors during a Congressional Gold Medal ceremony at the United States Capitol on January 15, 2020, in Washington, DC. Congress awarded the Congressional Gold Medal to former NFL player and advocate for patients with Lou Gehrig's disease (ALS) Steve Gleason. (Photo by Drew Angerer)
Gallery of Mitch McConnell
2020
120 Constitution Ave NE, Washington, DC 20002, United States
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell speaks during a press conference following the weekly Senate Republican policy luncheon in the Hart Senate Office Building on June 30, 2020, in Washington, DC. McConnell stated that a briefing could be arranged for Senators to get more information on the report that Russia offered a bounty to the Taliban to kill American soldiers. Photo by Stefani Reynolds.
Gallery of Mitch McConnell
2020
120 Constitution Ave NE, Washington, DC 20002, United States
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell talks to reporters following the weekly Senate Republican policy luncheon in the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill on September 30, 2020, in Washington, DC. Despite talks between Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, McConnell said that Senate Republicans and House Democrats are still far apart on coronavirus relief legislation. Photo by Chip Somodevilla.
Gallery of Mitch McConnell
2020
First St SE, Washington, DC 20004, United States
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell talks to reporters after attending the weekly Senate Republicans policy luncheon at the United States Capitol on January 07, 2020, in Washington, DC. McConnell said he had enough support from his caucus to move forward with the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump. Photo by Mark Wilson.
Gallery of Mitch McConnell
2020
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20500, United States
United States President Donald Trump gives a pen to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) during a bill signing ceremony for H.R. 748, the CARES Act in the Oval Office of the White House on March 27, 2020, in Washington, DC. Earlier on Friday, the United States House of Representatives approved the $2 trillion stimulus bill that lawmakers hope will battle the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Photo by Erin Schaff-Pool.
Mitch McConnell is held by his father Addison Mitchell McConnell in front of a relative’s house in Five Points, Alabama, in 1944, shortly before he was stricken with polio.
The United States Vice President Joe Biden, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Republican-Kentucky), Representative Shelia Jackson Lee (Democratic-Texas) and others arrive on Capitol Hill on February 12, 2013, in Washington, D.C. Facing a divided Congress, Obama is expected to focus his speech on new initiatives designed to stimulate the United States economy. Photo by Charles Dharapak-Pool.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell answers questions following the weekly Republican policy luncheon at the United States Capitol on November 13, 2014, in Washington, DC. McConnell was re-elected as leader of the Senate Republican caucus earlier in the day. Photo by Win McNamee.
United States President Donald Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell walk to a lunch with Senate Republicans on Capitol Hill, October 24, 2017, in Washington, DC. Trump joined the senators to talk about upcoming legislation, including the proposed GOP tax cuts and reform. Photo by Drew Angerer.
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20500, United States
United States President Donald Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Republican-Kentucky) talk to reporters in the Rose Garden following a lunch meeting at the White House on October 16, 2017, in Washington, DC. Trump and McConnell tried to erase reporting that they were not on the same page with the GOP legislative agenda and priorities. Photo by Chip Somodevilla.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnel gives the thumbs-up to the media after the Senate voted to confirm Betsy DeVos as education secretary on Capitol Hill on February 7, 2017, in Washington, D.C. The historic 51-50 vote was decided by a tie-breaking vote from Vice President Mike Pence. Photo by Mario Tama.
United States Senate Majority Leader Senator Mitch McConnell walks towards the Senate chamber with aides after the House passed a bill to temporary fund the government through January 19 and averted a shutdown on December 21, 2017, at the Capitol in Washington, DC. The Senate is expected to vote on the bill soon. Photo by Alex Wong.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell walks to a press conference with fellow Republicans following the weekly Republican policy luncheon on July 30, 2019, in Washington, DC. McConnell answered a range of questions including the pending senate agenda, and election security questions. Also pictured are Senator John Barrasso, Senator Todd Young, Sen. John Thune, and Senator Joni Ernst. Photo by Win McNamee.
50 Constitution Ave NE, Washington, DC 20002, United States
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell attends a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing for Kenneth Charles Canterbury Jr. and judicial nominees on July 31, 2019, in Washington, DC. The committee met to hear testimony on Canterbury’s nomination as the Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, and the nomination of four federal judges. Photo by Win McNamee.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell walks to the Senate floor for a vote on legislation advancing McConnell's plan voicing opposition to United States President Donald Trump's intention of withdrawing United States troops from Afghanistan and Syria on January 31, 2019, in Washington, DC. Photo by Win McNamee.
120 Constitution Ave NE, Washington, DC 20002, United States
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell arrives for the weekly Senate Republican policy luncheon in the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill on June 09, 2020, in Washington, DC. Photo by Chip Somodevilla.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, delivers his victory speech next to his wife, Elaine Chao, at the Omni Louisville Hotel on November 3, 2020, in Louisville, Kentucky. McConnell has reportedly defeated his opponent, Democratic United States Senate candidate Amy McGrath, marking his seventh consecutive United States Senate win. Photo by Jon Cherry.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell holds a press conference after the Senate voted to acquit President Donald Trump on the two articles of impeachment brought by the House of Representatives to the Senate for trial on Capitol Hill on February 5, 2020, in Washington, DC.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell walks to the Senate floor at the United States Capitol on July 30, 2020, in Washington, DC. Photo by Drew Angerer.
120 Constitution Ave NE, Washington, DC 20002, United States
Mitch McConnell speaks to members of the press as Senate Majority Whip Senator John Thune listens after a weekly Senate Republican Policy Luncheon at Hart Senate Office Building August 4, 2020, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. Senate Republicans held a weekly policy luncheon to discuss GOP agenda. Photo by Alex Wong.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell stand for the presentation of colors during a Congressional Gold Medal ceremony at the United States Capitol on January 15, 2020, in Washington, DC. Congress awarded the Congressional Gold Medal to former NFL player and advocate for patients with Lou Gehrig's disease (ALS) Steve Gleason. (Photo by Drew Angerer)
120 Constitution Ave NE, Washington, DC 20002, United States
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell speaks during a press conference following the weekly Senate Republican policy luncheon in the Hart Senate Office Building on June 30, 2020, in Washington, DC. McConnell stated that a briefing could be arranged for Senators to get more information on the report that Russia offered a bounty to the Taliban to kill American soldiers. Photo by Stefani Reynolds.
120 Constitution Ave NE, Washington, DC 20002, United States
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell talks to reporters following the weekly Senate Republican policy luncheon in the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill on September 30, 2020, in Washington, DC. Despite talks between Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, McConnell said that Senate Republicans and House Democrats are still far apart on coronavirus relief legislation. Photo by Chip Somodevilla.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell talks to reporters after attending the weekly Senate Republicans policy luncheon at the United States Capitol on January 07, 2020, in Washington, DC. McConnell said he had enough support from his caucus to move forward with the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump. Photo by Mark Wilson.
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20500, United States
United States President Donald Trump gives a pen to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) during a bill signing ceremony for H.R. 748, the CARES Act in the Oval Office of the White House on March 27, 2020, in Washington, DC. Earlier on Friday, the United States House of Representatives approved the $2 trillion stimulus bill that lawmakers hope will battle the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Photo by Erin Schaff-Pool.
(For more than three decades, McConnell has worked steadil...)
For more than three decades, McConnell has worked steadily to advance conservative values, including limited government, individual liberty, fiscal prudence, and a strong national defense. But he has always cared much more about moving the ball forward than about who gets the credit. The candid, behind-the-scenes memoir of the Senate Majority Leader and GOP veteran.
The US Senate and the Commonwealth: Kentucky Lawmakers and the Evolution of Legislative Leadership
(The United States Senate and the Commonwealth is the firs...)
The United States Senate and the Commonwealth is the first book of its kind to provide a detailed, yet accessible, discussion of the US Senate's leadership throughout its 225-year history. Senator Mitch McConnell and Roy E. Brownell II weave together the history of the Senate with lively portraits of prominent Kentucky senators as well as firsthand reflections about legislative leadership by a Senate majority leader. The authors illuminate and humanize this discussion by exploring the colorful and vivid lives of fifteen Kentucky lawmakers, including Henry Clay, Alben Barkley, and John Sherman Cooper. This compelling and fascinating study is an essential resource.
Mitch McConnell is a Republican Party member of the United States Senate from Kentucky. He assumed office in 1985. His latest term ends on January 3, 2021.
Background
Ethnicity:
Mitch McConnell is of Scots-Irish and English descent.
Mitch McConnell was born Addison Mitchell McConnell Jr. on January 20, 1942, in Sheffield, Alabama, United States to the family of Addison Mitchell McConnell Sr. and Julia Odene "Dean" Shockley. He spent his childhood nearby Athens, Alabama. His ancestor James McConnell, from County Down, Ireland, who came to this country as a young boy in the 1760s, went on to fight for the colonies in the American Revolution. McConnell contracted polio at age 2 and was not allowed to walk for two years while completing physical therapy.
Education
In 1956, when McConnell's family moved to Louisville, Kentucky, he attended duPont Manual High School. McConnell was elected student council president at his high school during his junior year.
McConnell graduated with honors from the University of Louisville College of Arts and Sciences, where he served as student body president. He also is a graduate of the University of Kentucky College of Law, where he was elected president of the Student Bar Association.
McConnell worked as an intern on Capitol Hill for Senator John Sherman Cooper before serving as a chief legislative assistant to Senator Marlow Cook and as Deputy Assistant Attorney General to President Gerald Ford.
Before his election to the Senate, McConnell served as judge-executive of Jefferson County, Kentucky, from 1978 until he commenced his Senate term on January 3, 1985.
First elected to the Senate in 1984, McConnell is Kentucky’s longest-serving senator. He made history that year as the only Republican challenger in the country to defeat an incumbent Democrat and as the first Republican to win a statewide Kentucky race since 1968. On November 4, 2014, he was elected to a record sixth term by receiving broad support across Kentucky, winning 110 of the Commonwealth’s 120 counties.
Mitch McConnell is now the Senate Majority Leader. Elected to that position unanimously by his Republican colleagues first in 2014 and again in 2016 and 2018, he is only the second Kentuckian to ever serve as Majority Leader in the United States Senate. The first, Senator Alben Barkley, led the Democrats from 1937 to 1949.
Senator McConnell has served, again by the unanimous vote of his colleagues, as the Republican Leader since the 110th Congress. He is the longest-serving Senate Republican Leader in the history of the United States. McConnell previously served in leadership as the Majority Whip in the 108th and 109th Congresses and as chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee during the 1998 and 2000 election cycles.
McConnell currently serves as a senior member of the Appropriations, Agriculture and Rules Committees.
(The United States Senate and the Commonwealth is the firs...)
2019
Religion
Mitch McConnell is a member of the Southern Baptist Convention.
Politics
McConnell has been very involved in Republican party politics. He was chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee during the 1998 and 2000 election cycles. In both, Republicans maintained control of the Senate. McConnell is viewed as a conservative on nearly all issues, receiving an 89% lifetime rating from the American Conservative Union. However, he was one of just three Senate Republicans who voted against a Constitutional ban on flag desecration.
In September 2019 the United States House of Representatives launched an impeachment inquiry against Trump following allegations that he had extorted a foreign country to investigate one of his political rivals. Three months later the House convicted the president on two charges: abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. While McConnell stated that he would hold a trial, he attracted controversy when he announced that he was coordinating with the White House about the proceedings. The trial opened in January 2020, and McConnell was credited with keeping the Republicans unified, especially in defeating a motion to call witnesses. In February 2020 the Senate easily acquitted the president.
Views
As chairman of the Senate Ethics Committee in 1995, Mitch McConnell garnered national attention for resisting Democratic attempts to investigate sexual assault accusations against Republican Sen. Bob Packwood of Oregon. In a speech on the Senate floor, McConnell threatened to launch investigations into Democratic politicians who had faced similar charges in the past, among them Sen. Ted Kennedy. His Democratic colleagues prevailed, however, and McConnell publicly changed his mind about Packwood, who resigned later that year under the weight of evidence against him.
McConnell earned a reputation as a tough opponent of campaign finance reform and campaign spending limits. From the 1990s he consistently voted against a series of such measures, including some sponsored by fellow Republicans. When a popular bipartisan measure sponsored by Republican Sen. John McCain and Democratic Sen. Russell D. Feingold was signed into law by President Bush in 2002, McConnell promptly sued the Federal Election Commission, calling the law a violation of free speech. In a December 2003 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the law.
In subsequent years McConnell showed greater willingness to compromise. In 2005 he served on a bipartisan Senate committee that made recommendations for broad changes to the Department of Homeland Security, the government agency charged with protecting the country against terrorist attacks in the wake of the September 11 attacks of 2001. The following year he introduced a compromise bill that brought the Republican and Democratic parties closer to an agreement about which interrogation techniques could be used by U.S. authorities on detainees held as suspected terrorists or terrorist sympathizers.
In 2007, however, as the newly elected Senate minority leader, McConnell opposed Democratic calls to set in place a timetable for the withdrawal of United States troops from Iraq (see Iraq War), arguing that it was not within the power of Congress to make such a judgment. Following the 2008 election of Pres. Barack Obama, McConnell coordinated the Republicans’ efforts in the Senate, opposing (unsuccessfully) Democratic legislation to reform health care and the financial sector.
The Republicans made significant gains in the 2010 midterm elections, and much of their initial focus turned to the federal deficit. In May 2011 McConnell joined other Republicans in announcing that he would not vote to raise the national debt ceiling unless various programs, including Medicare and Medicaid, underwent spending cuts. Without an increase to the debt limit, the government faced defaulting on its public debt. McConnell became a key figure in drafting a bipartisan deal that included significant cuts but no changes to the various entitlement programs. In addition, tax increases, which McConnell and the Republicans opposed, were also absent. Over the next several years, McConnell helped block a number of Democrat-led initiatives, including gun-control measures and increases to the minimum wage. Although some criticized his party’s use of the filibuster, he argued that Democrats refused to negotiate. After the Republicans regained control of the Senate in the 2014 midterm elections, McConnell was named majority leader.
In 2016 McConnell caused controversy when he refused to bring Obama’s Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Garland, to a vote in the Senate. McConnell claimed that because it was an election year, the vacancy should remain open until a new president was inaugurated. During the 2016 presidential race, he supported the Republican nominee, Donald Trump, who was eventually elected. One of Trump’s first acts as president was to nominate Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court. In April 2017 McConnell oversaw a change to the Senate rules that did away with the filibuster for Supreme Court nominees, and Gorsuch was confirmed by a vote of 54-45. Under McConnell, the Senate approved numerous other Trump judicial nominees. The majority leader also backed various policies supported by the president, perhaps most notably a massive tax-reform bill that was passed in 2017.
Personality
McConnell's opponents have given him a number of nicknames, including "Moscow Mitch," "Cocaine Mitch," the "Grim Reaper," "Darth Vader," "Rich Mitch," "Nuclear Mitch," and "Midnight Mitch." He is known to accept a number of them; however, he objected strenuously to the nickname "Moscow Mitch."
Physical Characteristics:
McConnell was struck with polio at the age of 2 in 1944, a decade before a vaccine was developed. He'd written in his memoir, "The Long Game," that he received treatment at the polio treatment center that President Franklin D. Roosevelt had founded in Warm Springs, Georgia. His upper left leg was paralyzed by a polio attack.
As his graduation neared, making him eligible for the draft, McConnell secured a coveted post in the United States Army Reserve, which President Lyndon Johnson kept out of combat for most of his administration. McConnell enlisted on March 21, 1967, and then returned to the University of Kentucky to finish law school. Private McConnell spent little time in uniform. He won a discharge from the Reserve after five weeks of active duty. He trained at Fort Knox from July 9 to August 15, 1967. McConnell's discharge came five days after the United States Senator John Sherman Cooper, Republican Party member of Senate from Kentucky, for whom he had worked as an intern, sent a letter to the two-star general in command of Fort Knox. Cooper told Major General A.D. Surles that McConnell expected to be released on a medical discharge because of optic neuritis, a painful eye condition that is treated by steroids.
Interests
fly-fishing, cooking
Connections
McConnell was married in 1968-1980 to Sherrill Redmon, with whom he had three daughters: Eleanor Hayes, Claire Redmon, and Marion Porter. In 1993 he married Elaine Chao, who later served as secretary of labor under President George W. Bush and secretary of transportation under President Donald Trump.