Mitch McConnell

Described as

American politician and lawyer (born 1942)

Other names

Addison Mitchell McConnell, Jr., Addison Mitchell McConnell III, Addison Mitchell McConnell, Mitchell McConnell, Addison Mitchell McConnell Jr., Addison Mitchell McConnell. Jr.

Born

February 20, 1942 · 5 references

Born in

Sheffield · 1 reference

Name at birth

Addison Mitchell McConnell Jr.

Citizen of

United States

Occupation

politician · 3 references; lawyer; judge; legislative assistant (1968–1970) · 1 reference

Positions held

Jefferson County Judge/Executive (1977–1984); United States Assistant Attorney General (1974–1975) · 1 reference; United States senator (1985–) · 1 reference

Political party

Republican Party · 1 reference

Worked for

Marlow Cook (1968–1970) · 1 reference; John Sherman Cooper · 1 reference

Education

University of Louisville (–1964) · 1 reference; University of Kentucky; University of Kentucky College of Law (–1967) · 1 reference; duPont Manual High School · 1 reference

Awards

Order of Merit, 1st class (2024) · 1 reference; Commander of the Order of the White Rose of Finland (2026) · 1 reference; Order of the Badge of Honour (2021) · 1 reference

Spouse

Elaine Chao (1993–); Sherrill Redmon (1968–1980)

Father

Addison Mitchell McConnell · 1 reference

Mother

Julia McConnell · 1 reference

Religion

Southern Baptist Convention · 1 reference

Military branch

United States Army Reserve

Website

http://www.mcconnell.senate.gov/

Wikipedias with a page

72

Wikidata item Q355522 (wikidata.org/wiki/Q355522), public domain (CC0). Copied November 13, 2026.

Addison Mitchell McConnell III (born February 20, 1942) is an American politician and attorney who has been a United States senator from Kentucky since 1985 and has been Kentucky's senior U.S. senator since 1999. A member of the Republican Party, McConnell is in his seventh Senate term, making him the longest-serving senator in Kentucky history. He led the Senate Republican Conference from 2007 to 2025, serving once as majority leader (2015–2021) and twice as minority leader (2007–2015; 2021–2025), making him the longest-serving Senate party leader in U.S. history.
McConnell holds conservative political positions, although he was known as a pragmatist and a moderate Republican early in his political career. He led opposition to stricter campaign finance laws, culminating in the U.S. Supreme Court decision Citizens United v. FEC, which partially overturned the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (a.k.a. the McCain–Feingold Act) in 2010. McConnell worked to withhold Republican support for major presidential initiatives during the Obama administration, making frequent use of the filibuster, and blocked many of President Barack Obama's judicial nominees, including Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland.
During the first Trump administration, the Senate Republican majority under McConnell's leadership passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act in 2018, the First Step Act, and the Great American Outdoors Act, and confirmed a record number of federal appeals court judges during a president's first two years. McConnell invoked the nuclear option to eliminate the 60-vote requirement to end a filibuster for Supreme Court nominations, after his predecessor Harry Reid had eliminated the filibuster for all other presidential nominations; Trump subsequently won Supreme Court confirmation battles over Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett. While supportive of most of Trump's domestic and foreign policies, McConnell criticized Trump's attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, and despite voting to acquit in Trump's second impeachment trial for reasons related to the constitutionality of impeaching a former president, deemed him "practically and morally responsible" for the January 6 United States Capitol attack.
In 2015, 2019, and 2023, Time listed McConnell as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. On February 28, 2024, McConnell announced that he would step down as the Senate Republican Conference leader in January 2025, but would serve the remainder of his Senate term. An internal election to fill the post of Senate Republican Conference leader was held on November 13, in which South Dakota senator John Thune was selected.
On February 20, 2025, McConnell announced he would not run for an eighth Senate term in 2026 and would retire from politics. This came after increasing concerns about his health and ability to continue serving following multiple public episodes and health scares. A fall and subsequent hospitalization and rehabilitation prevented McConnell from voting in the Senate from mid-June through mid-September 2026. He returned to the Senate on September 14. He said he was continuing physical therapy and had not yet fully recovered.

Born, in its opening lines

February 20, 1942

From the Wikipedia article “Mitch McConnell” (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitch_McConnell), by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Copied November 13, 2026; not changed.