According to GovTrack.us, almost a month and a half has passed since former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) took part in a U.S. Senate vote. McConnell, GovTrack.us says, has missed every Senate roll call vote since June 11. Reports on the 84-year-old senator’s health have been sporadic, and Newsweek is reaching out to McConnell’s office in the hope of getting some answers.
Earlier this month, some well-known Republicans said they had spoken to him, including Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-South Dakota) and GOP strategist/CNN pundit Scott Jennings. And McConnell’s office released a photo of him in a hospital bed in mid-July. But Newsweek’s Hugh Cameron stresses that updates on McConnell’s health have been few and far between.
“In addition to talk of reforming congressional rules and pressure on the retiring lawmaker to return to work — especially given Republicans are already grappling with a slim majority in the Senate — McConnell’s extended absence is leading to calls from voters, journalists and fellow members of Congress for transparency on the part of his staffers,” Cameron reports. “As of Wednesday, (July 22), the last communication from McConnell was an in-memoriam post for his former colleague, Lindsey Graham.”
A Facebook post attributed to McConnell and dated July 13 read, “Lindsey Graham was a good friend and a great American, and I was shocked and saddened by his passing.”
Newsweek contacted McConnell’s office for comment on July 22, and Cameron says that three questions need to be answered — the first of which is, “Why can’t anyone verify McConnell’s condition?”
In a statement, McConnell said he had suffered from a fall and a “mild case of pneumonia” and added, “My doctors have confirmed that I didn’t break any bones or suffer a concussion. I didn’t have a heart attack or a stroke. I don’t have any tumors or hemorrhages. But I was briefly unconscious and was taken to the hospital.”
But Cameron points out that “beyond the attached image of McConnell in a hospital, independent verification of his condition after a weekslong hospital stay has proved challenging for journalists and fellow lawmakers.”
Newsweek is also asking if Democratic Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear can “force the issue” with McConnell.
On July 8, Camerson notes, Beshear contacted McConnell’s office and said that Kentucky residents are “increasingly concerned about the current state of your health and wellbeing, and ability to hold office in the United States Senate.”
Newsweek is also asking, “Is there an August 3 deadline?”
“Open Senate seats must be filled by a special election,” Cameron explains, “but Kentucky’s constitution says the governor can appoint a replacement if the vacancy happens close to an election. While Beshear is not able to call a special election at a time of his choosing, an August 3 deadline has emerged as what many Kentucky election-law observers have identified as the practical cutoff for calling a special election.”