McConnell, who in January became the longest serving party leader in Senate history, has led the Senate GOP conference since 2005 and has helped guide his colleagues through some of the biggest moments in recent history — the 2008 financial collapse, the near default of the U.S. government in 2011, the fiscal cliff of 2012, the two impeachment trials of former President Trump and the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.

McConnell fell after attending a private dinner at the Waldorf Astoria in Washington and was taken to the hospital by an ambulance and is being treated for a concussion.

The 81-year-old Kentucky senator’s sudden absence came only a day after he helped Republicans achieve a big political victory by stampeding Democrats into voting to block a District of Columbia crime bill. And it left some GOP senators feeling unsettled and worried about the future.

On Twitter, President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden wished him a “speedy recovery”.

The senator, first elected to Congress in 1984, had a similar mishap outside his Louisville home in 2019 and then fractured a shoulder, resulting in a surgery.

McConnell is the latest lawmaker forced out of office because of physical issues, The Hill reported.

California Democrat Dianne Feinstein, 89, is recovering at home from shingles, while fellow party member John Fetterman (Penn.), 53, is being treated for depression at Walter Reed Medical Center in the capital.

Despite comments in political circles, there has been no serious discussion of a future Senate GOP leadership race, nor has McConnell hinted at an eventual retirement.

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