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McConnell Discharged From Rehab—Just Before Senate’s 5-Week Recess
Topline Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Thursday he’s been discharged from the rehabilitation center where he was recovering from a June fall, issuing a statement hours before the Senate is set to break for a five-week recess.
McConnell said he will “maintain an intensive regimen of physical therapy from home during the state work period” and “continue to engage with my staff and colleagues on important Senate business.”
McConnell has given two statements on his health since he was hospitalized following a June 14 fall that left him briefly unconscious, prompting calls for more transparency about the 84-year-old senator’s condition.
In his initial statement on June 13, accompanied by a photo of him sitting upright in a hospital bed alongside his wife, former Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, McConnell said he was still in the hospital after the fall and a “mild case of pneumonia,” but said he didn’t suffer any broken bones, concussion, heart attack, stroke or have any “tumors or hemorrhages.”
In a second statement on July 28, with a similar photo of him and Chao, he said he’d been moved to a rehab facility but wasn’t yet medically cleared to leave and wouldn’t attend a weekend political picnic in Kentucky; he also missed the funeral of his longtime Senate colleague, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.
His doctor said in the statement last month that his “bout with childhood polio continues to be a significant factor in his mobility.”
McConnell’s absence has complicated the Senate’s busy legislative calendar, as Republicans have a slim 53-47 majority in the upper chamber, and without McConnell, business on the Senate appropriations committee has come to a halt as the committee is split 14-14, meaning legislation can’t advance without bipartisan support.
“Earlier today, I was discharged from the rehabilitation center to continue my recovery at home. Elaine and I are grateful for the many well wishes and support from friends, colleagues, and Kentuckians, and for the attentive care I’ve received from excellent doctors, nurses, therapists, and hospital staff.
“On the advice of my doctors, I’ll maintain an intensive regimen of physical therapy from home during the state work period, and I’ll continue to engage with my staff and colleagues on important Senate business.”
Kentucky’s Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear has repeatedly urged McConnell to call into a news program or issue a video statement to prove he is capable of continuing to serve. Beshear must call a special election to fill McConnell’s seat if it becomes vacant, but there is some uncertainty surrounding the timeline since the November general election to fill McConnell’s seat is less than three months away. Some Kentucky lawmakers have speculated that the deadline for calling a special election in the event of a vacancy was Aug. 3, given the deadlines for notifying local officials of the special election. Beshear, however, suggested the date “has no legal impact on my options should there be a vacancy this year,” he wrote Monday on X, adding, “Worth a reminder, right now, there’s one less vote for the SAVE Act, Trump’s war with Iran, or the potential replacement of a SCOTUS justice” with McConnell absent.
McConnell is set to retire at the end of the year after 42 years in the Senate. He has experienced a series of health issues over the years and has been seen using a wheelchair or the assistance of aides to move around the Capitol recently. In 2023, he froze while speaking in front of reporters twice in a span of less than two months. His office attributed the episodes to lightheadedness, but physicians who viewed the footage said his symptoms mirrored those of mini seizures. He also experienced two serious falls in 2023 and 2024.
McConnell Shares Details About His Hospitalization After Weeks Of Silence (Forbes)
Mitch McConnell’s Health Fuels Longshot Theory He Could Be Replaced By Thomas Massie (Forbes)
McConnell ‘Not Yet Medically Cleared’ For Senate Return—Kentucky Gov. Demands More Details (Forbes)
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