Sen. Mitch McConnell’s aides have made a bombshell admission after weeks of dodging inquiries from the press about the 84-year-old’s health.
The senator’s team had previously refused to answer questions about his condition. McConnell was found unconscious at home and received CPR before being taken to the hospital last month, as revealed in an EMS call.
The call revealed that McConnell may have suffered a heart attack at his home on June 14, with his staff waiting until June 22 to give an update on his condition, saying only that he would not be voting that week.
McConnell’s office issued its first statement about his health since June 22 only after the Daily Beast asked a series of critical questions and published a story highlighting their refusal to disclose the senator’s whereabouts.
In the emailed statement on Thursday, McConnell’s team revealed that the senator is still in the hospital, almost three weeks after the June 14 emergency call.
“Senator McConnell appreciates the outpouring of support he’s receiving while he continues his recovery in the hospital,” the statement reads. “The Senator continues to improve, and is working closely with his staff on Kentucky and Senate matters while the Senate is out of session.”
The June 14 EMS call revealed that emergency services were dispatched to McConnell’s Washington, D.C., residence, where first responders were informed of “CPR in progress” due to “cardiac arrest.”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune on June 15 said that he had not spoken with the senator, adding that he was “clearly dialed into what’s going on” in the Senate despite his hospitalization. McConnell has not voted in the Senate since June 11.
McConnell has faced several health scares during his seven terms in the Senate. In February, he checked himself into hospital “in an abundance of caution” because of “flu-like symptoms,” spending eight days there and missing several crucial Senate votes as a result.
In October last year, the former Senate majority leader fell over at the Capitol after being asked about ICE by activists from the Sunrise Movement. A staffer and a member of the Capitol Hill police quickly helped him back to his feet.
McConnell was also photographed being escorted out of the Capitol in a wheelchair in February 2025 after falling twice in quick succession; once on the stairs outside the Senate chamber and again during a Senate lunch meeting.
Spokesman Dave Popp said later that the senator was fine, adding, “The lingering effects of polio in his left leg will not disrupt his regular schedule of work.”
The Kentucky legislator is the Senate’s third-oldest member and is set to retire at the end of the year, when his seventh term ends. He was first elected to the Senate in 1985.
His illness comes just two years after a controversial Kentucky law changed the protocol for filling a Senate vacancy before the end of a term.
Previously, state law required the governor—in this case, Democratic Governor Andy Beshear—to appoint a replacement to serve until the next election. In April 2024, Kentucky Republicans pushed through legislation scrapping this precedent and amending the process so that a special election would be held immediately instead.
Kentucky House Majority Floor Leader Steven Rudy told Spectrum News at the time that the move was not related to McConnell’s health. McConnell is the longest-serving senator in Kentucky history.
