Sen. Mitch McConnell’s health: Here’s what to know
Senator Mitch McConnell remains hospitalized after three weeks. USA TODAY’s Melina Khan reports what we know and don’t know.
- Both Democrats and some Republicans are demanding more transparency about Sen. Mitch McConnell’s health following his recent hospitalization.
- McConnell’s office has not disclosed the reason for his admission but released statements from allies who said they have spoken with him.
- The 84-year-old senator has a history of health issues, including several falls in 2023 and a previous hospitalization this year.
It’s no longer just Democrats who are demanding answers about Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell’s status nearly a month after the 84-year-old lawmaker was hospitalized in Washington, DC.
The senator’s office still has not disclosed why McConnell, the longest-serving Senate party leader in U.S. history, was admitted. But the Kentucky lawmaker’s staff sought to quell further speculation on July 7 by releasing statements from allies who said they’d spoken with him.
That wasn’t enough for at least two GOP House members who took to social media this week to air their concerns, saying U.S. officials should be more forthcoming with voters if they go missing for weeks.
Rep. Nancy Mace, R-South Carolina, drew comparisons to the public’s health concerns about former President Joe Biden, whose mental acuity became a focal point in the final months of the 2024 election, ultimately forcing him to leave the race.
“If McConnell is in as bad a shape as Biden ever was – or worse – he needs to step aside,” Mace said in a July 9 post on X. “This charade can’t continue. We can’t demand of others what we won’t demand of ourselves.”
In a separate post, Rep. Marlin Stutzman, R-Indiana, also evoked Biden in pressing for answers about McConnell’s health. He specifically mentioned Biden’s now infamous 2024 debate performance against Donald Trump, which resulted in the then-president’s startling exit from the race.
Biden was three years younger at that time than McConnell is now.
“We are now witnessing a similar scenario on our side, and Republicans should be holding our own party accountable instead of tiptoeing around the truth,” Stutzman said.
“Mitch McConnell’s constituents deserve to know where he is at, the fact they don’t is discouraging and concerning,” he added. “There is too much at stake for America in the Senate not to know.”
The senator’s office did not immediately respond to USA TODAY’s inquiry about the comments by Mace and Stutzman. They are the first Republican officials to speak out demanding more transparency.
McConnell absence revives debate about age, health in Congress
Congress has long struggled with how to handle concerns about aging or ill members in terms of how much they should disclose to the public about their conditions.
For much of 2023, for instance, late Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-California, was dogged by health problems before she died in office at age 90. She reportedly had memory lapses and was hospitalized for shingles.
“We need a constitutional amendment establishing age limits on all positions that have age minimums,” Brad Polumbo, co-founder of BasedPolitics, a nonprofit media group, said in a July 8 post on X.
McConnell, first elected in 1984, was admitted to the hospital on June 14, and staff members at the time noted he was receiving “excellent care” without disclosing the reason for the hospitalization. A 911 call that was later made public observed that someone at a Washington, DC, residence linked to McConnell needed CPR the morning he was taken to the hospital.In response to the deluge of questions and concerns, the former GOP leader’s office released a series of statements from Senate Majority Leader John Thune, Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso and Scott Jennings, a conservative CNN pundit and McConnell ally.
Each said they’d spoken to the senator in recent days in an apparent effort to assure constituents and political observers not to panic, but their statements triggered a flood of related memes from an array of people, mockingly stating they had also spoken with the senator.
McConnell’s absence also comes in the wake of the controversy over New Jersey Rep. Thomas Kean Jr., who was recently absent for four months from Congress due to what he explained on his return was depression.
But this isn’t the first health concern for McConnell, a polio survivor, who is retiring next year after more than four decades in Congress.
Starting in 2019, he had a series of setbacks. He tripped and fell at his home in Louisville, suffering a shoulder fracture. Things began to take a turn for the worse in 2023, however, when he collapsed at least three times, resulting in a concussion and a broken rib that eventually led to him using a wheelchair.
During that period, McConnell also experienced several events during which he appeared to freeze while speaking in public. These prompted further scrutiny of his capacity to serve. In February, he was also hospitalized for flu-like symptoms.
In a July 8 letter, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, a Democrat, requested McConnell “fully update” constituents, arguing that Bluegrass State voters had grown “increasingly concerned about the current state of your health and wellbeing,” including the senator’s ability to hold office.
Stutzman, the Indiana congressman, said in his social media post on July 9, it was fair for Beshear to ask for an update, “so the people of Kentucky get transparency on if their senator is able to serve.”
Contributing: Marissa Meador, Lucas Aulbach
