Mitch McConnell rejected speculation about his future as Republican leader in the US Senate, telling reporters: “I’m going to finish my term as leader and I’m going to finish my Senate term.”
The remarks on Wednesday came amid intense speculation about the 81-year-old Kentucky senator’s health, after two recent freezes in front of reporters, one on Capitol Hill in July and another in McConnell’s home state last week.
“I think Dr [Brian P] Monahan covered [the question of my health] fully,” McConnell said, regarding two public letters in which the congressional physician has discussed possible causes of the freezes and cleared his patient to continue working.
The first letter said McConnell might be suffering the after-effects of a concussion, sustained in a fall in March, or from dehydration. The second letter said McConnell was not suffering from a “seizure disorder”, a stroke or a “movement disorder such as Parkinson’s disease”. That letter also called McConnell’s freeze in Kentucky last week a “brief episode”.
“I have no announcement to make on that subject,” McConnell said.
McConnell is the longest-serving party leader in Senate history, in place since 2007. His power over his caucus has rarely been questioned but health scares including the freezes and a series of falls have stoked speculation about whether he will finish his seventh six-year term, which ends in January 2027.
Earlier, in a sign of growing uncertainty in Senate Republican ranks, McConnell’s fellow Kentuckian, Rand Paul, cast doubt on the assurances from congressional physician.
Paul, once a practising opthalmologist, told reporters: “When you get dehydrated you don’t have moments when your eyes look in the distance with a vacant look and you’re sort of basically unconscious with your eyes open. That’s not a symptom of dehydration.”
Monahan has also said “several medical evaluations” of McConnell included “brain MRI imaging, EEG [electroencephalogram] study and consultations with several neurologists for a comprehensive neurology assessment”.
Paul said: “It is a medical mistake to say someone doesn’t have a seizure disorder because they have a normal EEG.
“My point is that I’m just trying to counter the misinformation from the Senate doctor. It is basically not believable to come up and say that what’s going on is dehydration. It makes it worse.”
Paul also said his remarks had “nothing to do with [McConnell’s] fitness to serve and whether he’s doing a good job or a bad job”.
According to Fox News, McConnell used a closed-door party luncheon to reassure senators he was up to the job. Rick Scott of Florida, who challenged McConnell last year, told Fox McConnell did well.
But press attention to McConnell’s health has been constant since he fell in Washington in March, sustaining injuries that kept him away from Capitol Hill, and since he froze in front of congressional reporters in July. Other falls were reported then, including a “face plant” at an airport.
Polling shows most Americans think many politicians stay in their roles too long. More than 75% think that at 80, Joe Biden is too old for a second term as president.
McConnell is a member of the oldest Senate on record. He is however nine years younger than the oldest senator, 90-year-old Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat, and eight years younger than the oldest Republican, Chuck Grassley of Iowa.
