Mitch McConnell
U.S. Senator
Republican, Kentucky
- Date of Birth: February 20, 1942
- Birthplace: Tuscumbia, Ala.
- First Elected: 1984
Committee Assignments:
Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, Senate Committee on Appropriations, Senate Committee on Rules and AdministrationMitch McConnell is the minority leader of the U.S. Senate and his state's longest serving senator. He grew up in Louisville, Kentucky. McConnell graduated from University of Louisville, where he served as class president and earned his law degree from the University of Kentucky in 1967. He started working on Capitol Hill as an intern before becoming chief legislative assistant to Kentucky Republican Sen. Marlow Cook, a position he held for two years. In 1974, McConnell was appointed deputy assistant attorney general in the Ford administration and a year later, he returned to his home state to serve as Jefferson County Judge-Executive. McConnell was first elected to the Senate in 1984 and is currently serving his fifth term. As minority leader, McConnell consistently votes alongside his Republican colleagues, voting against historic legislation like healthcare and financial reform. He is also opposed to closing the Guantánamo Bay prison. Since 1993, McConnell has been married to Elaine Chao, who served as President George W. Bush's labor secretary. He has three daughters from a previous marriage.
Campaign Fundraising
2005 - Present| Top 5 Organizations | PACs | Individuals | Total |
| Kindred Healthcare | $10,000 | $98,200 | $108,200 |
| UBS AG | $10,000 | $88,450 | $98,450 |
| Elliott Management | $0 | $88,500 | $88,500 |
| Peabody Energy | $10,000 | $63,600 | $73,600 |
| Citigroup Inc | $12,500 | $53,600 | $66,100 |
| Top 5 Industries | PACs | Individuals | Total |
| Insurance | $50,000 | $34,600 | $84,600 |
| Lobbyists | $1,498 | $77,505 | $79,003 |
| Retired | $0 | $76,575 | $76,575 |
| Finance & Credit | $30,900 | $31,000 | $61,900 |
| Health Professionals | $30,500 | $18,950 | $49,450 |
Mitch McConnell in the News
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Mitch McConnell Turns on House GOP Leader Over Tax Cut Deal
December 22, 2011
House GOP gets more isolated as Senate Republican leader McConnell extends olive branch. -
Mitch McConnell Says Congress Will Likely Extend Tax Cut One More Year
November 29, 2011
GOP to push for payroll tax cut extensions, but disagrees with Dems on how to pay for it. - Senate Passes Stopgap Spending Bill to Avert Shutdown WASHINGTON -- The Senate voted Monday night to send a temporary spending bill to the House to avoid a government shutdown, Democrats and Republicans appeared to have reached a final-hour resolution to an impasse over disaster aid. The vote in the Senate was 79 to 12 to fund the government through Nov. 18, giving the two sides more time to haggle over long-term spending levels. The Senate also approved an even shorter-term spending bill --…
- Obama Campaign Urging Supporters to Tell Congress to Support American Jobs Act President Obama stood yesterday in front of the Brent Spence Bridge, connecting Ohio and Kentucky, and asked John Boehner (Ohio) and Mitch McConnell (Kentucky) to pass his American Jobs Act. It was a carefully crafted bit of political theater, effective on the…
- Ron Paul drives Republican policy, Republicans drive America to a crash For better or worse, it is an enormous achievement for Paul that his lifetime body of work is now a consensus policy of the Republican Party.The larger story, when the books are written, will be how Republican leaders in Congress appear hell-bent on returning the nation to the economic crash that began under the last Republican…
