Senate Democrats on Sunday said they were unsure if Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) would remain in his leadership post beyond this Congress, after his recent and highly publicized medical episode sparked discussions about his political future.
McConnell, 81, has been projecting normalcy since Wednesday’s incident, when he suddenly froze mid-sentence while speaking to reporters and looked ahead with an apparent blank stare for 18-seconds.
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The GOP leader later told his colleagues that his doctors had warned he could experience light-headedness as a result of injuries sustained during his March fall, which took place at a Washington, D.C., hotel. The incident left the minority leader with a serious concussion, as well as several broken ribs.
McConnell returned to the Senate six-weeks later, though appearing frail, while still maintaining a full schedule. It wasn’t until Wednesday that he faced any serious questions about his ability to fulfill his demanding leadership duties.
“Look, I talked to Minority Leader McConnell after the incident this week where he froze,” Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) told NBC’s Meet the Press. “He seemed fine. We spoke the next morning.”
Asked if he expected the octogenarian to be able to keep control of his conference, the Delaware senator replied, “I feel like he’s going to continue to be the Republican leader through the rest of this Congress. And what happens after that? I don’t know.”
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) expressed confidence in McConnell’s current grip on the Senate Republican Conference while on CNN’s State of the Union, though he couldn’t say what would happen once the next Congress is sworn in on January 3, 2025.
“I have not spoken to him directly about the incident, but he was on the floor. Thursday was a long day in the Senate completing the defense bill. He looked like the old Mitch McConnell,” Murphy said. “My sense is, he is very much still in control of that caucus. And though he certainly had a health scare, my sense is that he’s back up on his feet and he is going to be able to lead the Republican Conference very ably going forward.”
“No question I have a lot of disagreements with Mitch McConnell, but he has been one of the more effective leaders of the Republican Conference in my lifetime. And I expect that that will probably continue, at least until the end of this term,” Murphy continued.
The GOP leader would only respond to questions about the freeze-up by noting, “I’m fine,” in a statement an aide to McConnell pointed to when reached by the Washington Examiner for comment on the incident on Wednesday.
The top Senate Republican and his team have maintained that line since the freeze-up, with a McConnell spokesman saying in a statement, “Leader McConnell appreciates the continued support of his colleagues, and plans to serve his full term in the job they overwhelmingly elected him to do.”
The lack of candor is not entirely surprising. McConnell, the longest-serving Senate leader in U.S. history, is revered as one of the greatest political operators in the last century. The GOP leader has been careful about how he presents himself to the press and the larger public, especially given that showing any signs of vulnerability could lead to questions about his power.
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The March fall was far from McConnell’s first serious medical challenge. The seven-term senator is a polio survivor, who has ever-since walked with a limp, as well as long struggling with stairs and other obstacles as a result.
He also fractured his shoulder after falling in August 2019 while home in Kentucky, which required surgery.
