Sen. Mitch McConnell would like to confirm that he is, in fact, not dead.
Actually, according to his first public comments since being hospitalized in mid-June, McConnell’s health situation appears to be less dire than what the social media rumor mill had speculated.
“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,” McConnell wrote in a lengthy statement released Sunday evening.
McConnell survived polio as a child, and his mobility issues “haven’t exactly gotten easier to manage with age,” he wrote. He fell at home in mid-June, and was “briefly unconscious.” This sparked his well-publicized hospitalization, where he then got a “mild case” of pneumonia.
“I can assure you that I’ve been a good patient. At my age, I tend to do what my doctors tell me to do,” McConnell said. “I’ve submitted to every test they can think of to help figure out what caused this incident. And I’m continuing to do everything they ask to speed my recovery.”
McConnell said he’s since been able to move from the hospital to a rehabilitation center to continue his recovery, and an attached doctor’s note said he’s been medically cleared to take on an “intensive” physical therapy regimen to prevent future falls.
But he’s not quite ready to return to the Senate floor, he said.
“As much as it frustrates me, this process takes time,” McConnell wrote. “And on the advice of my doctors, I won’t be able to return to the Senate floor to vote quite yet.”
Mirroring remarks from his team during his hospitalization, McConnell said he’s “not taking a break from the Senate business that matters to you,” and will continue to work on Senate business while recovering.
This means Kentuckians will continue to be down to just one Senator—Sen. Rand Paul—representing them for an unknown amount of time.
Pointing to the limited representation, Charles Booker—the Democrat running to take McConnell’s seat in November—called on McConnell to step down Monday.
“If Mitch McConnell is unable to return to Washington and fulfill his responsibilities for our commonwealth, I am calling on Mitch McConnell to step down,” Booker said in a social media post.
Congress has “pivotal” decisions coming up, Booker said, like whether or not it will continue to fund Trump’s war in Iran and whether Kentuckians will get federal help to recover from recent floods.
“With his absence, we don’t have a voice,” Booker said. “So, I’m calling for transparency and the leadership we need, even if that means that Mitch McConnell must step down.”
McConnell’s absence means the Senate Republicans will be down two members when they return this week, due to the sudden death of Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) over the weekend—a moment McConnell said on social media he was “shocked and saddened by.”
This drops the Republicans to 51 votes to the Democrats’ 47—raising questions of how upcoming key votes and confirmations, like for acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, may be swayed.
McConnell’s statement comes nearly a month after his hospitalization, with very limited updates from his team on the reason for his hospitalization, his health status, or his ability to hold office.
After previously telling reporters McConnell’s team was not updating him, and facing mounting calls on social media to do something, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear wrote a letter requesting McConnell share a full update with Kentuckians. Just minutes before McConnell’s team released their statement Sunday evening, Beshear was on TV, saying he still hadn’t heard anything from McConnell.
The silence has fueled rampant speculation and misinformation online, with several conspiracy theories arguing he was actually dead or otherwise incapacitated and that there was an ongoing cover-up to avoid triggering a special election to fill McConnell’s seat. (McConnell announced in early 2025 he would retire at the end of this year, and Republican Andy Barr and Booker were already slated to compete against each other in November to be the next senator.)
McConnell, who is 84, acknowledged the silence in his statement, writing, “You all know how folks of my generation often hesitate to share the vulnerability that comes with growing older. Even in the public eye, I feel that same instinct – I can’t help it.”
This story has been updated.
