Kentucky governor Andy Beshear says Mitch McConnell’s written updates on his health are not enough
As US Senator Mitch McConnell says he is continuing to recover from a fall, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear says the written updates are not enough.
In a letter addressed to McConnell, a Republican from Kentucky, Beshear,a Democrat, called on the senator “to directly and verbally address the people of Kentucky and provide proof of your capacity to serve, or resign.” A copy of the letter was also sent to Senate Leader John Thune.
“I am addressing this letter to Senator McConnell under the assumption that he is capable of reading and responding verbally, and not incapacitated by means of consciousness or cognition,” the governor said in his letter, a copy ofwhich was shared with the Globe.
“If the Senator is unable to respond for either of those or other conditions, consider this letter a demand for his Senate staff to be honest and transparent with the people of Kentucky,” Beshear added.
McConnell was admitted to the hospital on June 14 and said nearly a month later that he was recovering from a fall. On Monday, his office released an update on his health, in which the physician’s office in Congress said the 84-year-old senator was still not cleared to leave a rehabilitation facility.
The former Republican senate leader last voted on June 11.
“I’m still working hard to get back to my full schedule of work in the Senate and in Kentucky, keeping up with intense physical therapy per my doctors’ orders,” McConnell said in a written statement Monday. It was accompanied by a photo of him and his wife, dated Sunday.
Beshear argued the update “does not discuss your actual condition, including whether you can speak, reason, or carry out your duties as a senator.”
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“I understand anyone’s desire for privacy, but when you run for office and serve as one of a state’s two US senators, you willingly abdicate much of your personal privacy,” he added. “That’s the deal, and we all know it when we run.”
Beshear sent a letter to McConnell’s office earlier this month before the senator’s office had explained his hospitalization. At the time, Beshear said that secrecy around McConnell’s health was “allowing speculation to continue in the media is not fair to the Senator or to Kentuckians.”
Under state law, a US Senate vacancy in Kentucky must be filled by special election — not by appointment of a governor, as was the case in South Carolina earlier this month when the sister of late Republican Senator Lindsey Graham was appointed to fill the remainder of his term.
The governor must declare a special election at least 63 days before Election Day, per Kentucky statues. That would give Beshear a deadline of Sept. 28. McConnell is not running for reelection this year, and his term ends in January.
Republican leaders have repeatedly dismissed concerns around McConnell’s health. Thune is under immense pressure to pass a list of demands from President Trump before the Senate’s upcoming break in August. The GOP holds a slim 53-47 majority in the Senate.
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