Retired lawyer Mitch McConnell is a renowned senator from Kentucky who currently serves as the United States Senate minority leader. He also has been a majority leader in the past and is the Senate’s longest-serving Republican Party member. As of 2022, Mitch McConnell has a net worth of $35 million.
Early Life
Addison Mitchell McConnell III was born in Sheffield, Alabama on February 20, 1942. His parents, Julia Odene and Addison Mitchell II, raised him in Athens, Alabama.
At the age of two, he suffered from a polio attack, which almost disabled him permanently. Thankfully, young Mitchell got treatment and recovered. In 1950, their family moved to Augusta, Georgia, and again in 1956 to Louisville, Kentucky.
He attended duPont Manual High School and studied Political Science at the University of Louisville. He earned his law degree from the University of Kentucky College of Law in 1967, where he served as the Student Bar Association’s President.
Early Career
McConnell became a private in the US Army Reserve in 1967. He was, however, medically disqualified due to his visual neuritis. He then decided to work for Senator Marlow Cook as a Chief Legislative Assistant.
In 1971, he lent a hand to Tom Emberton’s Kentucky governor campaign but Emberton lost. Mitchell tried unsuccessfully to compete for a seat in the State Legislature.
At this point, he chose to use his degree by starting a career in law. He joined a law firm called Segal, Isenberg, Sales and Stewart. He also joined the faculty of the University of Louisville as a Professor.
Political Career
He started focusing more on politics in 1974 and was hired as a Deputy Assistant Attorney General in Washington, DC. From 1977 to 1984, he was the Executive Judge of Jefferson County.
Mitch McConnell joined the Senate in 1985, representing Kentucky. He was the National Republican Senatorial Committee’s chairman from 1997 until 2001 and later became the Senate majority leader in 2014.
During Donald Trump’s reign, his relationship with the former President was tense, and it deteriorated further after Joe Biden won the presidential election in 2021. This led him to be the Senate minority leader in the same year.
Net Worth and Family Wealth
McConnell is paid $193,400 annually in the Senate as revealed on their own website. Though he has built quite a fortune with his own efforts, much of his current wealth was inherited from his wife’s family. His wife, Elaine Chao, was George W. Bush’s Secretary of Labor and Donald Trump’s Secretary of Transportation.
Elaine is also the daughter of James S.C. Chao, a shipping tycoon who founded the Foremost Group. Mitch and Elaine also own numerous assets, such as stocks, mutual funds, trust funds, and retirement accounts. With this, Mitch’s net worth is estimated to be $35 million.
Personal Life
Mitch McConnell married Elaine Chao in 1993. They currently live in the Highlands region of Louisville. Before this, he was with feminist scholar Sherrill Redmon. Their marriage started in 1968 and ended in 1980. The couple has three children together: Claire, Elly, and Porter.
