Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), 84, announced he will return to the Senate on Monday evening and cast votes:
Today, I’ll cast my first Senate vote since I took a bad fall back in June. I’m really looking forward to being back on the Senate floor and seeing my colleagues.
My recovery has been a long and often frustrating process, and the lingering effects of childhood polio haven’t made it any easier. 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.
Elaine and I are very grateful for all the continued well wishes from our fellow Kentuckians, and I’m glad to get back to more of business as usual on their behalf this month.
Today, I’ll cast my first Senate vote since I took a bad fall back in June. I’m really looking forward to being back on the Senate floor and seeing my colleagues.
My recovery has been a long and often frustrating process, and the lingering effects of childhood polio haven’t made…
— U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell (@SenMcConnell) September 14, 2026
New: Sen. Mitch McConnell was just seen leaving his home in Washington, DC, for the first time after a three-month absence from the Senate due to health issues pic.twitter.com/FOderqr5kq
— Annie Grayer (@AnnieGrayerCNN) September 14, 2026
McConnell has been absent for three months.
McConnell went to the hospital on June 14. He remained there for a month.
The senator’s office wouldn’t elaborate on his condition or even what happened.
On July 8, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (D) demanded answers from McConnell because the media went wild with their theories as people spread their own on social media.
“Allowing speculation to continue in the media is not fair to the Senator or to Kentuckians, and my hope is that this provides him the opportunity to share the information in a transparent manner, direct from the source,” said Beshear.
McConnell finally addressed his situation on July 13, confirming he fell at his DC residence and shooting down rumors he had a stroke or heart attack.
The 84-year-old senator left the hospital on July 27 for rehab, but the doctors did not medically clear him to return to work. He also had to miss the annual Fancy Farm picnic, where Kentucky politicians address citizens and mingle.
The rehabilitation center discharged McConnell on August 6, allowing him to return home and continue physical therapy.
Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.
Comments
Who’s sending him good wishes?
John Thune
lol you are so right
Uhh any decent human being. As is appropriate for a civilized person.
Wait a minute. I was assured by the online psychos that he was actually dead and republicans were just trying to hold the seat until after the elections?
How can this be?
/sarc off
Nobody actually believes this ‘recover from a fall’ crap. You don’t spend a month confined to a hospital and then need three months to recover from a fall, particularly when the few photos from the hospital showed him with absolutely no casts/braces that you’d expect to need if ‘a fall’ were the cause.
And this ‘medically cleared to return to work’ crap.
You don’t need to be physically able to do basically anything but sit in a wheelchair in order to vote. He didn’t show up because he doesn’t care.
He could have had brain damage , don’t need a cast for that.
Then there is the Neurological “issue” he clearly has that the actual Dx has never been forth coming
Look up Andrew Maynard, CT state senator. He had a fall (under bizarre circumstances) with a serious head injury in July of 2014 during campaign season, the sort of head injury the majority don’t even survive, and none do neurologically intact, 10+ feet headfirst onto concrete. The Ds assured us that he would be fine by the election, so of course he won handily. (To be fair, the man was one of those rare Ds who voted for his constituents, not his party.)
That session, he was never seen without a minder who shoed off anyone trying to talk to him, and for the first time in his life, he voted with the party, Every. Single. Vote.
Thankfully for everyone, especially him, he had a car accident shortly before the choosing of candidates for the next election, and so he was allowed to retire by the Ds. (https://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/local/911-call-released-from-senator-maynards-wrong-way-crash/90355/)
Of course the D party in this neck of the woods put up a candidate for probate judge who they knew was dying of cancer, and might not even make it to the swearing in in January. So four towns in CT had the expense that next year of two extra elections, one a primary, and then the actual probate election, because the governor wouldn’t let the nearby courts continue to cover ours for an extra two months. I’m guessing it cost us an extra $100K at least, and I really think the towns should have sued the party to recoup the costs.
He had a stroke. No doubt in my mind.
Weekend At Mitch’s
Anybody else getting Christopher Pike vibes?
A bit – but the AI-generated meme that came to my mind was the Senator encased in a Davros chair.
Really – after Zombie-Biden haven’t we had enuf of Weekend At Bernie’s office holders?
BEEP BEEP BEEP.
As predicted he’s shown up for the roughly 3 weeks the Senate will be in session before they take off on Oct 3 ish until after the midterms. Though the statement had lots of wiggle room for him to bounce early. I’m totes sure no would consider using it to torpedo any legislation by his absence while allowing some make believe votes to try and rook the rubes by Senators actually opposed to the legislation. They could point to this sort of vote and claim they voted for it (when it didn’t matter) and demand more $ to elect more Senators to ‘get the job done’. ‘Golly gee we wanted it to pass, I supported it, but Sen McConnell was absent and we came up one vote short of 50 to get VP Vance in position to break the tie’
The turtle looks to be a shell of his former self.
I see what you did there lol
Whatever the causes of his recent medical emergency, it should have been a wakeup call for him. He could have announced his upcoming retirement immediately, with an abbreviated primary and an election this fall. But no!
Is it the D.C. experience/lifestyle/access-to-halls-of-power or the kind of people who seek election to it that results in so many of them hanging on to their office past all reason and sense? I hope he still has a sharp mind and a competent staff, but wouldn’t everyone (including him) have been better off if he had retired a decade ago? Some blame perhaps also accrues to the voters of his state, unless there were no decent alternative candidates in his last primary.
Nevertheless, I wish him full recovery and continued good health…and an increase in sound judgment and self-awareness.
What are you talking about? He already had announced it, in February of last year.
No. His constituents would have missed out on a decade of his service, which you seem not to have appreciated but they did.
Again, what are you talking about? His last primary was in 2020, and 83% of primary voters gave him a vote of confidence as the GOP candidate, which he justified by defeating his Dem opponent with an increase of 1.6% over his 2014 winning margin, despite it having been a bad year for Republicans overall (between fraud, Wuhan, and other misfortune).
Well, this puts paid to all those who claimed to have positive information that he was dead or a vegetable. They are exposed as liars, whose word should never be trusted on any matter ever again. As for those who didn’t claim positive information, but were nonetheless convinced of it, their judgment has now taken a serious ding.
Just wondering how he’s doing cognitively or is he a shade of Dianne Feinstein? Guess we’ll find out, eventually.
It doesn’t really matter. His term is over on Jan 3 anyway.
McConnell arrived at the Capitol yesterday. While video recording is normally allowed in that specific press hallway, Senate staff explicitly prohibited reporters from filming or recording any video of his remarks. There is no proof that he is recovered or can think or speak normally.
He’s recovered enough to attend the senate and vote. That’s all we need.
And there’s no proof he can’t think normally, any more than there’s proof he can. Anything about that is pure speculation.
Sure. A thumb’s up from McConnell means “yes,” thumb’s down, “no,” Carry on with the farce…
I wonder how many taxpayer dollars were spent on that entourage of security and aides who transported him from home to the Capitol. I don’t begrudge ensuring the safety of public officials, but this staffing seems to have become the norm.
This long drawn out recovery and complications are now being blamed on the fact that he had polio when he was a kid and the lingering effects of it slowed down his recovery. I suppose that’s plausible but at the same time I don’t believe it. This is Mitch McConnell. We’re talking about here.
He could have resigned after suffering his medical episode. The Kentucky legislature would have picked his successor. McConnell was not about to let that happen. Why? Because they would have appointed a real conservative in support of President Trump. Couldn’t have that with the SAVE America act still out there in need of votes. He will hang on until the Grim Reaper taps him on the shoulder. In the mean time we get the pics of him being pushed around in a wheel chair. One hand on his Life Alert and the other hanging on to his Senate voting fob.
No it wouldn’t! Where did you get that idea? There is no state where that happens, because it’s unconstitutional.
The constitution provides only two methods for filling a senate vacancy. When a vacancy occurs the constitution requires a special election to fill the vacancy; however the legislature may authorize the governor (and only the governor) to make a temporary appointment until the special election. In Kentucky the legislature has not so chosen, so the only method is special election.
Again, the legislature could not have done any such thing. Beshear would have had to call a special election, and he would have said that since it’s so close to November we’ll just have it then, together with the already-scheduled election for the following term, with the same candidates already selected in the May primary.
Kentucky passed a law vesting the appointment of a Senator replacement to the legislature, not the governor.
No, it didn’t, and it couldn’t. As I already explained to you, such a law would be unconstitutional. What part of that do you not understand? Your information is wrong; discard it from your brain.
Betters lost millions… 🙂
He is the best reason for term limits. We have had to many of these career politicians on both sides. The money and corruption is to good to let go of is my guess.
One of my English friends asked, “How is that corpse still alive?”
I told him, “He’s on the Temu Golden Throne.”
IYKYK.
“I never said Mitch was all dead. I said he was ‘mostly dead’. And there’s a big difference between mostly dead, and all dead.” – Miracle Max (probably)