A former minority leader who was elected back-to-back as Republican Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell is a very popular and powerful Republican figure and is considered one of the longest-serving Senators to represent Kentucky.
He was an ambiguous dissenter during former President Barack Obama’s re-election bid, but his antics failed. He is also an avid supporter of the University of Kentucky and University of Louisville basketball teams; He graduated from school with both degrees.
Mitch McConnell’s bio
Senator Addison Mitchell McConnell Jr. was born on February 20, 1942 in Sheffield, Alabama. However, he grew up in Athens, in the city of Georgia. His parents are Addison Mitchell and Julia McConnell and they are members of the Southern Baptist Christian denomination. He is of mixed ancestry – English, Scottish and Irish. He was nearly crippled by polio at the tender age of 2, but the urgent medical care he received at the Warm Spring Institute came at a great expense and drained the family coffers.
Mitch McConnell was educated in his youthin DuPont High School, Louisville. He then earned a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Political Science in 1964. In 1967 he received his law degree from the University of Kentucky College of Law. Immediately out of college, Mitch Mitchell enlisted in the United States Army but was honorably discharged after 5 weeks of training in August 1967 on health grounds.
After his discharge from the military, he interned with then-Senator John Sherman Cooper and later Senator Marlow Cook, all Republican Senators from Kentucky. There he learned the ropes of politics from 1968 to 1970 and was eventually promoted to political office in his later years.
The powerful Kentucky senator is still aiming to retain his seat in the upcoming election.
Wealth (income and earnings)
Mitch McConnell is considered one of the richest senators in the United States of America. He was ranked 10th among the wealthiest U.S. Senators in 2015 after his late mother-in-law left him and his wife an estimated monetary gift of between $5 million and $25 million. His net worth is estimated to be well over $22.5 million.
Is he gay? Wife
Mitch McConnell is not a man many like as the current leader of the US Senate Minority Whip, former US Senator, Senate Minority Whip from 2003 to 2007 and County Judge from 1977 to 1984 has been labeled a villain by many and for many reasons. His second marriage to a Chinese woman – Elaine Chao – was heavily criticized. She had been accused of discriminating against white workers while she was a labor secretary.
McConnell has been embroiled in many controversies such as inappropriate sexual behavior towards other women, but one thing his critics might not pin down about him is homosexuality. The US Senator has been called gay since 2013. The claim has not yet been proven true, and the senator claims he is honest. His two marriages bear witness to this.
Senator Mitch McConnell has been married twice. His first marriage was to Sherrill Redmond in 1988. The marriage lasted 12 years and they had 3 children together before divorcing. The reason for the divorce is not known, but afterward, Sherrill took her maiden name and became a feminist. She was director of the Women History Archives at Smith College, Massachusetts.
He married Elaine Chao on February 6, 1993. She was a member of the George W. Bush Administration. She was born in Taipei, Taiwan and immigrated to the United States with her parents at the age of 8. Chaos’ father, James SC Chao, owned a shipping company and her mother, Ruth Chao, is a historian. Elaine began her elementary school education in Taiwan and continued her education by attending a high school in New York when her family came to America.
She received her bachelor’s degree in 1975. She studied economics at Mount Holy Yoke College in Massachusetts and received an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1979. She was an international banker for Citicorp in New York and worked in the Ronald Reagan administration in 1983. She also worked in the George W. Bush administration from 1989 to 1991 as Assistant Secretary of Transportation. She was US Secretary of Labor from 2001 to 2009 before leaving government to work with her foundation.
She was removed and nominated as Secretary of Transportation by the Donald Trump administration in 2016 and confirmed to the position in 2017. She has no children with Mitch McConnell.
children – daughters
Mitch McConnell has three daughters from his first marriage to Sherrill Redmond viz.; Elly McConnell (born 1972), Claire McConnell (born 1976) and Marian Porter McConnell (born 1979), but his second marriage to Elaine Chao is yet to have children.