Kentucky governor urges Mitch McConnell to ‘be straight’ about his health, says he should ‘show us he has the capacity’ to do his job

Mitch McConnell has finally returned to the US Senate after what sounds like a truly miserable summer. The 84-year-old senator was absent from the Senate from mid-June, and there were weeks of silence and speculation before his office finally explained that he’d suffered a fall at home that left him “briefly unconscious”.

That was followed by a “mild case” of pneumonia, and the subsequent lack of information was because, as McConnell put it, “folks of my generation often hesitate to share the vulnerability that comes with growing older”.

Now, after a summer in which he underwent a rehab program that saw him undertake “a strenuous course of physical therapy and rehabilitation”, McConnell is back in action. Yesterday he was brought from his home to the Senate, where he cast his first vote in three months.

“He has an obligation to prove to the people of Kentucky”

But he’s not out of the woods yet. McConnell underlined that he’s still having treatment and may yet miss votes: “I’m still not quite back to 100%, but I’ve assured Leader Thune that, as I continue with physical therapy on the advice of my doctors, I will do my best to be present for tough votes when our conference needs me.”

Andy Beshear, the governor of Kentucky, has welcomed McConnell’s return to work, but mainted his position that McConnell needs to be more open about his health and openly queried whether Kentucky is being properly represented in Washington by him. In comments reported by Lex 18, Beshear said, “I still think he has an obligation to prove to the people of Kentucky that he has the capacity to represent us and represent us well. That means being able to come day after day, to serve on committees.”

He added that every Kentuckian deserves an honest appraisal of the man speaking for their interests in Washington, saying, “We need to make sure we have two active U.S. senators. Now, he’s taken a step in the right direction. But it’s my hope that he will talk to the people of Kentucky, be straight about what he’s going through, what the expectations are, and that he can show us he has the capacity to be a day to day U.S. senator.”

Questions remain about McConnell’s fitness to work, and the fact that no video was permitted of McConnell’s remarks yesterday hasn’t stopped speculation about his health. Those in attendance reported that McConnell was “smiling”, though noted he was “speaking slowly with some difficulty.”