Daniel Wolfram
The Senator is back to represent the people of Kentucky for the last two and a half months before he retires.
When 84-year-old Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell took a fall in his home on June 14, no one could have predicted that three months later he would still be absent from his job in the Senate.
There has been a lot of secrecy around the severity of his illness and the injuries he sustained. There have even been online rumors that Senator McConnell’s was dead.
But yesterday, McConnell returned to the steps of Congress ready to serve out the year before he retires.
Wheeled into work
Assisted by an aide, Mitch McConnell was put into a wheelchair and taken by car to Capitol Hill, where he addressed the media and gave a statement on his prolonged absence.
“My recovery has been a long and often frustrating process, and the lingering effects of childhood polio haven’t made it any easier,” the senator said before going onto the Senate floor and casting his first vote since June 11.
“I’m still not quite back to 100%,” he continued, adding, “I will do my best to be present for tough votes.”
Video of the senator surfaces
Reporters and photographers were waiting outside McConnell’s Washington townhouse, hoping to get a glimpse and a comment out of the veteran senator before his first day back.
McConnell waved at the crowd before being assisted into a vehicle. There, the senator, who has served in Congress for 41 years, stared into space for a while before the car took off, heading to the Capitol.
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The return of the senator comes as a major surprise since his team and family have been unusually secretive about his health status. It took a month from when first responders showed up at McConnell’s house to perform CPR after he reportedly suffered a heart attack, before he wrote a statement calling it a “mild case of pneumonia.”
There also has not been an official update on him since early August.
Not the first time McConnell has had health scares
While this is one of the longest absences of someone holding office in modern times, this is far from the first time Senator McConnell has dealt with health problems.
Back in 2023 and 2024, McConnell took several falls, which resulted in a concussion and minor injuries.
There was also the incident back in 2023 in which Mitch McConnell suddenly began to stare into space and dissociate while speaking with reporters – kind of like he does at the end of the TMZ video after he was put in the car.
