Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear wants to see a little more from Mitch McConnell amid speculation on the senator’s health.
Beshear, who formally requested an update from McConnell last week, isn’t satisfied with the Republican’s explanation that a fall last month led to his prolonged hospitalization—prompting widespread conjecture about his fitness to serve moving forward.
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“While our office has not yet received a response from the Senator or his office, his public statement offered a needed update that the people of Kentucky deserved,” Beshear told Newsweek in a statement Monday afternoon. “Moving forward, the Senator should show he can meaningfully engage in his elected position through interviews, videos or other means that can provide additional reassurance to our constituents.”
In a July 8 letter, the Democratic governor wrote that Kentuckians had “grown increasingly concerned” amid reports that McConnell, 84, had been hospitalized since last month.
“As Governor, I request that you fully update Kentuckians regarding the current status of your health,” Beshear wrote McConnell’s office in Washington. “As public office holders, we have made a commitment to our constituents to do our best to represent them and to always be transparent. I believe this requires clear communication about one’s ability to serve.”
Beshear had also called on McConnell to update his constituents over the weekend.
“I publicly and privately urged the last administration to address the public’s concerns with the former president’s health,” the governor posted Saturday on X. “I’m calling on Sen. McConnell to do the same and provide voters an update on his own health. Let’s end the crazy speculation. Just tell us what’s going on.”
A day later, McConnell’s office revealed that a fall on June 14 prompted his extended hospitalization, adding that the lawmaker has since undergone a series of tests and been moved to a rehabilitation facility.
“As much as it frustrates me, this process takes time,” McConnell said in a statement on Sunday. “And on the advice of my doctors, I won’t be able to return to the Senate floor to vote quite yet. But rest assured that, in the meantime, I’m not taking a break from the Senate business that matters to you.”
McConnell, a polio survivor, said he didn’t suffer a concussion, but had been “briefly unconscious” after the fall. He has also been treated for a mild case of pneumonia, he said.
“I can assure you that I’ve been a good patient,” McConnell said. “At my age, I tend to do what my doctors tell me to do. I’ve submitted to every test they can think of to help figure out what caused this incident. And I’m continuing to do everything they ask to speed my recovery. In fact, with signs of continued progress, I’ve been able to move from hospital care to a rehabilitation center where I’ll keep regaining my strength.”
McConnell’s lengthy statement also included a photograph of the veteran lawmaker and his wife Elaine Chao. Some observers, including a Republican congressman, had publicly speculated that the former Senate majority leader had died or questioned whether he was still alive.
“I have not heard from him, and I think it’s a question that Republicans should be asking because he does represent the state of Kentucky,” Representative Marlin Stutzman, a Republican from Indiana, told NewsNation on Thursday while criticizing the lack of information from McConnell’s office.
McConnell, whose seventh and final term ends in January, has endured a series of medical incidents in recent years, including multiple falls and unexplained episodes during which he appeared to freeze while speaking with reporters in 2023.
