McConnell absent from Senate on Thursday as he recovers from fall in Capitol

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell is still suffering from the effects of a fall in the Senate earlier this week and is missing votes on Thursday due to leg stiffness, according to his office.

McConnell fell outside a Senate party luncheon on Tuesday and sprained his wrist and cut his face. He immediately returned to work in the Capitol in the hours afterward, but his office said Thursday that he is experiencing stiffness in his leg from the fall and will work from home.

The fall was the latest in a series of medical incidents for McConnell, who is stepping down from his leadership post at the end of the year. He was hospitalized with a concussion in March 2023 and missed several weeks of work after falling in a downtown hotel. After he returned, he twice froze up during news conferences that summer, staring vacantly ahead before colleagues and staff came to his assistance.

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

After four decades in the Senate and almost two decades as GOP leader, McConnell announced in March that he would step down from his leadership post at the end of the year. But he will remain in the Senate, taking the helm of the Senate Rules Committee.

South Dakota Sen. John Thune was elected last month to become the next Senate leader when Republicans retake the majority in January.