Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) returned to the Senate on Monday, casting his first vote and making his first public appearance since he suffered a fall at home in June.
McConnell traveled the few blocks to the Senate from his home on Capitol Hill as senators returned to Washington for the first time since the chamber adjourned Aug. 8 for a five-week recess. He provided the deciding vote on a routine procedural vote to advance the nomination of Matthew R. Byrne, President Donald Trump’s pick for a district court judgeship in Ohio.
In a statement, McConnell described his recovery as “a long and often frustrating process” made no easier by the lingering effects of his childhood polio.
“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 said, referring to Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-South Dakota).
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.
McConnell’s extended absence sparked widespread speculation and even some conspiracy theories about his condition. He gave no interviews and until Monday had 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. He also disclosed that he was diagnosed with “a mild case of pneumonia” while hospitalized.
Those details did not quell intense speculation about his health and when he would return.
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (D) demanded in July that McConnell “provide proof of his capacity to serve, or resign.” Scott Jennings, a longtime McConnell ally who worked on some of his reelection campaigns, told CNN’s “The Arena With Kasie Hunt” that more transparency “would have saved him a whole lot of grief.”
McConnell, who does not often speak to reporters in the hallways of the Capitol, appeared unbothered by the controversy surrounding his absence when he returned Monday, joking that he had been unsure how much interest his return would generate.
“I must admit, after two years of — two decades, actually — of dodging your questions, I wasn’t sure how many of you would be here today,” McConnell told reporters. “But I’m glad to see you.”
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.
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. The Senate is scheduled to be in session for only eight more weeks before 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’s absence effectively narrowed Republicans’ 53-47 majority in the Senate, given the party less margin for error. Sen. John Barrasso (Wyoming), the No. 2 Senate Republican, said he spoke with McConnell by phone during his absence but declined to predict when he would return.
“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 told KELO, a South Dakota TV station, earlier this month.
McConnell’s three-month absence overlapped with only six weeks that the Senate was in session, but it had an effect on the chamber.
The Senate Agriculture Committee did not advance a major bill on farm policy in July because Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Alabama) and McConnell missed the vote. It would have passed if both senators had voted for it, though not if only one of them were there.
McConnell returned to the Senate two days before the committee is set to vote again on the bill. He told reporters Monday that he was ready to work on the bill and to support Ukraine in its war against Russia.
“Time to get back to work and finish the job for this Congress,” he said.
The post McConnell returns to Senate, casting first vote since suffering a fall in June appeared first on Washington Post.
