Addison Mitchell McConnell III is a Republican politician from Kentucky who served as a U.S. Senator from 1985. In February 2016, he refused to hold hearings on President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland, with 220 days remaining until the election, stating that the Senate should not fill a vacancy in a presidential election year. Four years later, after Justice Ginsburg died 46 days before the 2020 election, McConnell reversed his stated principle and rushed Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation in 30 days. He announced he would not seek re-election and retired from Senate leadership in November 2024, ending his tenure as the longest-serving Senate leader in history.
