Bob Dole dies

By Mike Hayes and Maureen Chowdhury, CNN

Updated 4:47 PM ET, Sun December 5, 2021
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1:24 p.m. ET, December 5, 2021

McConnell praises Dole for "conservative victories and big bipartisan achievements"

From CNN's Daniella Diaz

In a statement, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell praised Bob Dole for "both conservative victories and big bipartisan achievements" in his more than 10 years as the Republican leader in the Senate.

"Whatever their politics, anyone who saw Bob Dole in action had to admire his character and his profound patriotism," McConnell said in the statement. "Those of us who were lucky to know Bob well ourselves admired him even more. A bright light of patriotic good cheer burned all the way from Bob’s teenage combat heroics through his whole career in Washington through the years since. It still shone brightly, undimmed, to his last days," the statement said.

1:21 p.m. ET, December 5, 2021

McCarthy says Dole "dedicated himself to the American experiment and its deepest ideals"

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said in a statement tweeted today that Bob Dole "dedicated himself to the American experiment and its deepest ideals."

"Today, we should reflect on service to one another and commit to following the example he set for America," McCarthy said.

Read his tweet:

1:02 p.m. ET, December 5, 2021

Sen. Leahy pays tribute to Dole: He was a giant of the Senate

Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy paid tribute to his former colleague the late Republican Sen. Bob Dole.

"Bob Dole was a giant of the Senate," a statement posted to Twitter said.

"I remember the large number of Republicans and Democratic senators gathering on the floor to praise him when he stepped down from the Senate. Traveling with him, working with him and writing legislation are among my fondest memories of the Senate," the statement said.

Read the full statement here:

12:41 p.m. ET, December 5, 2021

US Capitol flags to be flown at half-staff to honor Dole

From CNN's Ross Levitt

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ordered the flags at the Capitol to be flown at half-staff in honor of former Sen. Bob Dole's death, her spokesman tweeted. 

12:37 p.m. ET, December 5, 2021

Senator and former presidential candidate Bob Dole has died

From CNN's Aaron Pellish

Dole appears at a Conservative Political Action Conference in 1995.
Dole appears at a Conservative Political Action Conference in 1995. (Mark Peterson/Redux)

Former Republican Senator and presidential candidate Bob Dole died Sunday morning at 98-years-old, according to a statement released by his family.  

"Senator Robert Joseph Dole died early this morning in his sleep. At his death, at age 98, he had served the United States of America faithfully for 79 years,” the statement said.

12:35 p.m. ET, December 5, 2021

Bob Dole served 27 years as a US senator

From CNN's Veronica Stracqualursi

Dole works the phones from his office balcony at the US Capitol in 1996.
Dole works the phones from his office balcony at the US Capitol in 1996. (Mike Theiler/Reuters)

Bob Dole, a Republican Party stalwart and presidential hopeful who espoused a brand of plain-spoken conservativism as one of Washington's most recognizable political figures throughout the latter half of the 20th century, died Sunday.

He had announced in February that he was being treated for advanced lung cancer.

Dole, who was seriously wounded during World War II, had suffered a series of health ailments in previous years. In 1991, he received surgery for prostate cancer, received abdominal aortic aneurysm surgery in 2001, was hospitalized in 2005 after a fall in his home and was treated for a leg infection in 2009.

Arriving in Washington at the dawn of the Kennedy administration, Dole would serve for 27 years as a US senator from Kansas, including two stints as the Senate majority leader, though he might be best known for his unsuccessful run as the Republican presidential nominee against Bill Clinton in 1996, his third attempt at the White House. He also served as President Gerald Ford's running mate in 1976 after Nelson Rockefeller declined to stay on as vice president.

Read more about him here.