Sen. Mitch McConnell’s aides have made a bombshell admission after dodging questions from the press for weeks about the 84-year-old’s health.
The senator’s team had previously refused to answer questions about his condition after he was found unconscious at home, administered CPR, and transported to 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 the 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 even say where the senator was located.
In the emailed statement on Thursday, McConnell’s team revealed that the senator is still in 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 sent 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 throughout 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 to his feet.
McConnell was also photographed being escorted out of the Capitol in a wheelchair in February 2025 after falling twice in short succession; once on the stairs outside the Senate chamber and again during a Senate lunch meeting.
Spokesperson 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 after serving seven terms, having first been 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 immediately held 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.
