Everyone is looking for answers on Mitch McConnell’s health, including Kentucky officials

Officials are growing restless for answers on Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell’s weeks-long hospitalization.

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According to the former Republican leader’s staff, McConnell “continues to improve” following an unexplained hospitalization. No details have been provided on why the 84-year-old was hospitalized on June 14, or details of his current condition as he remains in the hospital.

The lack of information promptedKentucky Governor Andy Beshear to the Senator’s office on Wednesday, writing that his constituents “have grown increasingly concerned about the current state of your health and wellbeing” and ability to serve in Congress.

McConnell last voted on June 11 to end a debate on a Trump-appointed judge to the 8th Circuit. He’s missed more than20 votes since.

“As Governor, I request that you fully update Kentuckians regarding the current state of your health,” Beshear’s letter said. In a separate statement, the governor said that “allowing speculation to continue in the media is not fair to the Senator or to Kentuckians.”

Some GOP leaders have tried to put questions surrounding McConnell to rest. Senate Leader John Thune’s office said that he spoke to McConnell in length on Monday and had a “substantive conversation that covered a variety of topics, including national security.”

A spokesperson for Senator John Barrasso, of Wyoming, another member of Republican leadership,said the senator talked to McConnell on Tuesday for about 20 minutes on topics including “the Graham Platner scandal and the recent Supreme Court ruling on coordinated spending limits.”

CNN pundit Scott Jennings, a former advisor to McConnell, posted on X on Tuesday that he spoke to the senator for “just shy of 20 minutes” that same morning on a range of topics.

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“I told him we want to see him back at work as soon as possible,” Jennings added.

The updates didn’t quell everyone’s questions, however. Kentucky Representative Thomas Massie, also a Republican, appeared to mock Jennings’ statement in his own post to X on Tuesday, writing that he also “spoke to McConnell for about 20 minutes this morning.”

“He said we should end the war with Iran, quit giving aid to Israel, stop spying on Americans without a warrant, and he’s really sorry about how my primary turned out,” Massie said, repeating many of his own policy points that have put him at odds with President Trump. Massie lost his state’s GOP primary in May to a Trump-backed candidate.

McConnell has had several health issues in recent years. In 2023, he was hospitalized with a concussion and missed several weeks of work. Later that same year, the then-Republican Senate leader froze up twice during public appearances. At the time, McConnell told his GOP colleagues he was determined to finish his term as leader.

In February 2024, McConnell announced that he planned to step down as Republican leader after 17 years in the position, the longest serving Senate leader in history. In December that year, he fell and sprained his wrist while walking out of a Republican lunch.

McConnell had polio in his early childhood and he has acknowledged he has some difficulty walking and climbing stairs. He often is seen getting around Congress in a wheelchair.

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McConnell is not seeking reelection; his final term will end in January.