Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) said he would vote Monday night in the Senate for the first since he suffered a fall in June at his Washington home.
“My recovery has been a long and often frustrating process, and the lingering effects of childhood polio haven’t made it any easier,” McConnell said in a statement Monday. “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.”
McConnell, 84, was hospitalized June 14 following a fall at home, according to his office. He later moved to a rehabilitation center, from which he was discharged Aug. 6 to continue his recovery at home.
Senators returned Monday to Washington to cast their first votes since adjourning Aug. 8 for a five-week summer recess.
McConnell led Senate Republicans for 18 years before stepping down last year to serve out the last two years of his term as a rank-and-file senator. His term is up Jan. 3. Rep. Andy Barr, who won the Republican Senate primary in Kentucky in May, is heavily favored in the race to succeed him.
McConnell has given no interviews and made no public appearances since his hospitalization. His office has shared two photos of him taken during his recovery, and he said in a statement in July that he did not break any bones when he fell and did not suffer a concussion, a heart attack, a stroke or a hemorrhage.
Those details did not quell intense speculation about his health and when he will return to the Capitol. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, a Democrat, demanded in July that McConnell “provide proof of his capacity to serve, or resign.”
McConnell is not the first senator to be away from the Senate for months while ailing or in recovery.
Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pennsylvania) was absent for two months in 2023 while seeking treatment for depression. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-California) missed nearly three months of votes in the same year while battling shingles. She returned to the Senate but died months later. And Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona) did not vote during his final eight months in office before his death in 2018.
Earlier this month, Rep. James Comer (R-Kentucky) told reporters that he expected McConnell to return when the Senate reconvened, based on conversations with McConnell’s staff. Comer said he had not spoken directly to McConnell about his plans.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-South Dakota) told KELO, a South Dakota TV station, earlier this month that he was hopeful that McConnell would return to the chamber soon.
“We’d love to get him back to where we can have him voting in the Senate, and I hope that will happen here in the not-too-distant future,” Thune said at the time.
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