“Even in the public eye, I feel that same instinct \u2014 I can\u2019t help it,” he said.<\/p>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/the-statement-included-a-smiling-picture-of-the-senator-with-JME3KOI2CBDBLJ4PT3LS36WQKA.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
The statement included a smiling picture of the senator with his wife Elaine Chao. (Source: Office of Mitch McConnell.)<\/p>\n
McConnell said he will not be returning to the Senate \u201cquite yet\u201d but continues to work with his staff on Senate business. The statement included a smiling picture of the senator with his wife Elaine Chao, a tacit response to speculation online that McConnell had died or was incapacitated.<\/p>\n
McConnnell’s disclosure comes after growing pressure<\/p>\n
McConnell had provided little information since his hospitalisation on June 14, his office insisting only that he was “receiving excellent care” and recovering. Speculation about his condition grew so intense that Kentucky\u2019s Democratic Governor Andy Beshear took the extraordinary step last week of issuing a public letter asking McConnell to update the public in a “transparent manner”. <\/p>\n
McConnell is retiring at the end of January after one of the most consequential careers in modern politics. Republicans have nominated US Representative Andy Barr to replace him, while Democrats have nominated former state lawmaker Charles Booker. He said he is determined to finish out his term.<\/p>\n
“I still have unfinished business to complete on your behalf,” McConnell wrote in the statement addressed to Kentuckians, “and I have every intention of finishing the job you elected me to do”. <\/p>\n
McConnell has a history of health problems<\/p>\n
McConnell had polio in his early childhood and has long acknowledged some difficulty as an adult in walking and climbing stairs.<\/p>\n
The physician\u2019s office in Congress in the statement said McConnell has “experienced several falls through the year” due to his “post-polio condition”. The office said his physical therapy is aimed at reducing the risk of him falling again.<\/p>\n
“A comprehensive evaluation by a multidisciplinary team determined that he had no fractures, cardiac abnormalities, stroke, tumour, or haemorrhage,” the physician’s office said.<\/p>\n
McConnell was first elected to the Senate in 1984 and was the Republican leader from 2007 until last year, serving as both majority and minority leader during that period. He has remained active as a rank-and-file senator, showing up for work when the chamber is in session, often using a wheelchair to get around.<\/p>\n
But the senator\u2019s physical condition has visibly declined in recent years.<\/p>\n
He was hospitalised with a concussion in March 2023 and missed several weeks of work after falling in a Washington hotel. He twice froze up during news conferences after he returned, staring vacantly ahead before colleagues and staff. A year later, he fell and sprained his wrist while walking out of a GOP luncheon.<\/p>\n
The morning’s headlines in 90 seconds, including the US-Iran conflict ramps up, there’s an update on cut off Kaik\u014dura and Prince Harry acts the goat. (Source: Breakfast)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Senator Mitch McConnell on Monday revealed for the first time that a fall led to his hospitalisation, breaking…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":523301,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,134,43,64,40,38,41,39,66],"class_list":["post-523300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-health","tag-news","tag-north-america","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-us-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=523300"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523300\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/523301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=523300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=523300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=523300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}