Mitch McConnell

Extracted Attributes

• Health

  Overcame polio in early childhood

• Spouse

  Elaine Chao

• Education

  University of Louisville (B.A., 1964), University of Kentucky Law School (J.D., 1967)

• Full Name

  Addison Mitchell McConnell III

• Recognition

  Time magazine's 100 most influential people (2015, 2019, 2023)

• Current Role

  Senior United States Senator from Kentucky

• Early Career

  Legislative Assistant to U.S. Sen. Marlow Cook (1968-1970), Deputy Assistant U.S. Attorney General (1974-1975), Jefferson County Judge/Executive (1977-1984)

• Date of Birth

  1942-02-20

• Place of Birth

  Sheffield, Alabama, United States

• Political Party

  Republican Party

• Senate Term Length

  Seventh term

• Longest-serving Senator from Kentucky

  Yes

• Longest-serving Senate Party Leader in U.S. History

  Yes

Timeline

• Born Addison Mitchell McConnell III in Sheffield, Alabama. (Source: Summary, Wikipedia, Wikidata)

  1942-02-20

• Family moved from Alabama to Louisville, Kentucky, when he was 13. (Source: Web Search Results)

  1955

• Graduated from the University of Louisville. (Source: Web Search Results)

  1964

• Graduated from the University of Kentucky Law School. (Source: Web Search Results)

  1967

• Began serving as a legislative assistant to U.S. Sen. Marlow Cook. (Source: Web Search Results)

  1968

• Served as Deputy Assistant U.S. Attorney General in the administration of President Gerald R. Ford. (Source: Web Search Results)

  1974

• Began serving as Jefferson County Judge/Executive. (Source: DBpedia)

  1977

• First elected to the U.S. Senate from Kentucky. (Source: DBpedia)

  1984

• Began serving as the senior United States senator from Kentucky. (Source: Summary)

  1985

• Chaired the National Republican Senatorial Committee. (Source: Web Search Results)

  1997

• Voted to convict and remove Bill Clinton from office during his impeachment trial. (Source: Web Search Results)

  1999-02-12

• Unanimously elected Senate Republican Whip. (Source: Web Search Results)

  2002-11

• Began serving as Senate Majority Whip. (Source: Web Search Results)

  2003

• Elected Senate Minority Leader after Republicans lost control of the Senate. (Source: Web Search Results)

  2006-11

• Began serving as leader of the Senate Republican Conference and as Senate Minority Leader. (Source: Summary)

  2007

• The U.S. Supreme Court decision Citizens United v. FEC partially overturned the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, an outcome McConnell supported. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2010

• Named one of Time magazine's 100 most influential people in the world. (Source: Summary)

  2015

• Began serving as Senate Majority Leader. (Source: Summary)

  2015

• Blocked President Obama's Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland. (Source: Summary)

  2016

• The Senate, under his leadership, passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. (Source: Summary)

  2017

• Invoked the "nuclear option" to eliminate the 60-vote filibuster for Supreme Court nominations, facilitating the confirmation of Neil Gorsuch. (Source: Summary)

  2017

• The Senate, under his leadership, passed the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2018

• Facilitated the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. (Source: Summary)

  2018

• Named one of Time magazine's 100 most influential people in the world. (Source: Summary)

  2019

• Won reelection to the Senate for a seventh term. (Source: Web Search Results)

  2020

• Facilitated the confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court. (Source: Summary)

  2020

• Began serving again as Senate Minority Leader. (Source: Summary)

  2021

• Named one of Time magazine's 100 most influential people in the world. (Source: Summary)

  2023

• Announced he would step down as Senate Republican Conference Leader in January 2025. (Source: Summary)

  2024-02-28

• Scheduled to step down as Senate Republican Conference Leader. (Source: Summary)

  2025-01

• Announced he would not run for an eighth Senate term in 2026 and would retire from politics. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2025-02-20

• Scheduled to retire from politics at the end of his current Senate term. (Source: Summary)

  2026

Mitch McConnell

Addison Mitchell McConnell III ( mə-KON-əl; born February 20, 1942) is an American politician and attorney serving as the senior United States senator from Kentucky, a seat he has held since 1985. McConnell is in his seventh Senate term and is the longest-serving senator in Kentucky history. He served from 2007 to 2025 as the leader of the Senate Republican Conference, including two stints as minority leader (2007 to 2015 and 2021 to 2025), and was majority leader from 2015 to 2021, 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 (McCain-Feingold) 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 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 late 2024, McConnell wrote an essay on his current view of American power and the foreign policy mistakes of former presidents. 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 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.

Web Search Results

• Mitch McConnell | Biography, Senate, & Facts - Britannica

  Mitch McConnell (born February 20, 1942, Tuscumbia, Alabama, U.S.) is an influential Republican politician who has represented Kentucky in the U.S. Senate since 1985. The longest-serving Senate party leader, McConnell has been the majority whip (2003–07), minority leader (2007–15; 2021–25), and majority leader (2015–21). During seven terms in the Senate, he was especially known for adding conservative judges to the federal courts, and he was instrumental in blocking a number of key Democratic [...] During his early childhood, McConnell was afflicted with, but eventually overcame, polio. His family moved from Alabama to Louisville, Kentucky, when he was 13. He graduated from the University of Louisville in 1964 and from the University of Kentucky Law School in 1967. From 1968 to 1970 McConnell was a legislative assistant to U.S. Sen. Marlow Cook. He later served as deputy assistant U.S. attorney general in the administration of Pres. Gerald R. Ford (1974–75) and as judge/executive (chief

• Mitch McConnell - Wikipedia

  Addison Mitchell McConnell III (/məˈkɒnəl/ mə-KON-əl; born February 20, 1942) is an American politician and attorney serving as the senior United States senator from Kentucky, a seat he has held since 1985. McConnell is in his seventh Senate term and is the longest-serving senator in Kentucky history. He served from 2007 to 2025 as the leader of the Senate Republican Conference, including two stints as minority leader (2007 to 2015 and 2021 to 2025), and was majority leader from 2015 to 2021, [...] McConnell was born on February 20, 1942, to Julia Odene "Dean" (née Shockley) and Addison Mitchell "A.M." McConnell II at Colbert County Hospital (now Helen Keller Hospital) in Sheffield, Alabama, and grew up in Athens, Alabama, where his grandfather, Robert Hayes McConnell Sr., and his great-uncle, Addison Mitchell McConnell, owned McConnell Funeral Home. He is of Scots-Irish and English descent. His ancestor James McConnell fought on the American side in the American Revolutionary War. [...] From 1997 to 2001, McConnell chaired the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the body charged with securing electoral victories for Republicans. On February 12, 1999, he was one of 50 senators to vote to convict and remove Bill Clinton from office. He was first elected Majority Whip in the 108th Congress. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist did not seek reelection in the 2006 elections. In November, after Republicans lost control of the Senate, they elected McConnell minority leader. After

• Mitch McConnell | Research Starters - EBSCO

  Mitch McConnell is a prominent American politician known for his leadership within the Republican Party and his long tenure in the U.S. Senate. Born on February 20, 1942, in Sheffield, Louisiana, he faced challenges early in life, including overcoming polio. McConnell was first elected to the Senate in 1984, making a significant impact as a key Republican figure in Kentucky and nationally. He served as Senate majority leader from 2015 until the Democrats regained control in 2021, marking a [...] Often considered the father of the modern Republican Party in Kentucky, Mitch McConnell rose to become one of the most influential figures in US politics in the early twenty-first century. First elected to the US Senate in 1984, he was unanimously elected Senate Republican Whip in November 2002 and became his party's Senate leader in 2007, when Republicans were in the minority. McConnell became the Senate majority leader in 2015. He won reelection to the Senate for a seventh term in 2020, but [...] After becoming Senate minority leader in 2007, McConnell led Republican opposition to the administration of President Barack Obama (2009–17). He fought against signature Obama policies such as health care reform. He became especially known for using the tactic known as the filibuster, an attempt to delay voting on an issue by speaking for the entire Senate session. He and fellow Republicans often used the filibuster to block Democrats' legislative agenda and judicial appointments. In 2012

• Biography - Senator Mitch McConnell - Senate.gov

  Senator Mitch McConnell is Kentucky’s longest-serving senator. Elected nine times to lead the Republican conference from 2006-2024, he is also the longest-serving Senate party leader in American history. From 2015 to 2021, McConnell was just the second Kentuckian to serve as Senate Majority Leader, following Senator Alben Barkley (1937 to 1949). He previously served in leadership as the Majority Whip and as chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee.McConnell’s consequential [...] Senate leadership has earned widespread praise. Seasoned observers have called him “the most important Republican since Ronald Reagan” and “the most important leader of the United States Senate in American history”. On three occasions, TIME Magazine named McConnell one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World.McConnell led a transformation of the federal judiciary in a victory for the rule of law and the Constitution. His decision to follow precedent and keep a Supreme Court vacancy open [...] counties.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. He is the proud father of three daughters.McConnell is married to Secretary Elaine Chao, the 18th U.S. Secretary of Transportation. Previously, Secretary Chao served for eight years as President George W. Bush’s

• Senator First, Card Forever | UofL News

  Today, at 73 years old, Sen. Mitch McConnell is the U.S. Senate Majority Leader, and Kentucky’s longest-serving senator, marking 30 years in 2015. He works on an international stage, has the ear of the White House and is instantly recognizable to millions worldwide. Time magazine recently named him one of the “Time 100” most influential leaders in the world.

• Award

  Order of Merit, 1st class

• Image

  

• Gender

  male

• Educated At

  University of Kentucky

• Instance Of

  Q5

• Occupation

  judge

• Citizenship

  United States

• Date Of Birth

  2/20/1942

• Place Of Birth

  Sheffield

Addison Mitchell McConnell III (born February 20, 1942) is an American politician and retired attorney serving as the senior United States senator from Kentucky and the Senate minority leader since 2021. Currently in his seventh term, McConnell has held the seat since 1985. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as Senate majority leader from 2015 to 2021, and as minority leader from 2007 to 2015. McConnell first served as a Deputy United States Assistant Attorney General under President Gerald Ford from 1974 until 1975 and went on to serve as Jefferson County Judge/Executive from 1977 until 1984 in his home state of Kentucky. McConnell was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 1984 and is the second Kentuckian to serve as a party leader in the Senate. During the 1998 and 2000 election cycles, he was chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee. He was elected Majority Whip in the 108th Congress and re-elected to the post in 2004. In November 2006 he was elected Senate minority leader – the post he held until Republicans took control of the Senate in 2015. 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 ruling Citizens United v. FEC that partially overturned the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (McCain-Feingold) in 2010. McConnell worked to withhold Republican support for major presidential initiatives during the Obama administration, having made frequent use of the filibuster, and blocked many of President Obama's judicial nominees, including Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland. During the Trump administration, the Senate Republican majority under his leadership passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act in 2018, 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 previously eliminated the filibuster for all other presidential nominations; Trump subsequently won confirmation battles on Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett for the Supreme Court. While supportive of many of Trump's domestic and foreign policies, McConnell was critical of Trump's attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, and despite voting to acquit on Trump's second impeachment trial on reasons related to the constitutionality of impeaching a former president, deemed him "practically and morally responsible" for the January 6 United States Capitol attack. McConnell is married to former secretary of transportation and former secretary of labor Elaine Chao. In 2015 and 2019, Time listed McConnell as one of the 100 most influential people in the world.