FRAGILE Senator Mitch McConnell has been seen in a wheelchair and wearing a boot after suffering multiple falls last week as calls for his retirement heat up.
Eager Republican lawmakers are hungry to replace McConnell, 82, after he was physically carried into a car, even though he hasn’t announced plans to step down.
On Monday night, the Kentucky representative looked shaky as he was wheeled out of a vote in Washington DC, video captured by CNN reveals.
He appears to still be recovering from a fall in the Capitol on Wednesday, where he plunged down a small flight of stairs and later fell a second time.
At the time, aging McConnell slammed into the ground and caused a flock of senators to rush over and help, but his office said that he was “fine.”
His spokesperson told The U.S. Sun that McConnell’s bout with polio in 1944, when he was two, had caused some lifelong issues affecting his leg.
“The lingering effects of polio in his left leg will not disrupt his regular schedule of work,” they said in a statement.
McConnell’s aging has long been an issue among Congressmen, but the longtime lawmaker has always shrugged off concerns and kept working.
He’s been a powerful member of the highest chamber for decades and was known as one of the biggest DC players when he served as Senate minority leader.
In November, he stepped down from that position but has maintained he will serve out his Senate term through 2027.
As concern for McConnell’s condition mounts, at least one lawmaker is already eyeing his enviable position, according to a bombshell report.
Kentucky Representative Andy Barr was chatting at a Republican event about running in the 2026 Senate race for the vacant seat, attendees told CBS News.
Barr has previously said in private that he won’t challenge McConnell if the senior representative chooses to run for another term.
But if he decides to retire, the up-and-coming lawmaker could be in a prime position to take over.
Barr, 51, has been serving as a representative for Kentucky’s 6th congressional district since 2013, and he’s considered a top pick for a Senate office, a GOP source told CBS News.
Over the weekend, he reportedly hung out in Palm Beach, Florida, with major donors like former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and head of trading company Susquehanna International Group, Jeff Yass.
The group gathered with other senators just down the road from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate to discuss how they could fill McConnell’s position, and Barr reportedly came out on top.
Other names that were considered for the position were Dan Cameron, who is a former Kentucky attorney general and close friend of McConnell, and businessman Nate Morris.
Mitch McConnell's road to Republican Senate leader
- Mitch McConnell was born in Sheffield, Alabama, on February 20, 1942.
- He enlisted in the US Army Reserve as a private in Louisville, Kentucky.
- He got his start in politics in 1968 as a chief legislative assistant to Senator Marlow Cook in Washington, DC.
- In 1971, McConnell returned to Kentucky, where he worked on Tom Emberton’s campaign for state governor.
- In October 1974, McConnell returned to the nation’s capital to fill a position as deputy assistant attorney general under President Gerald Ford.
- McConnell was first elected to the Senate in 1984, making history as the first Republican challenger in the country to defeat an incumbent Democrat and the first GOP member to win a statewide Kentucky race since 1968.
- Republicans voted McConnell the party’s leader in 2007.
- After Republicans took control of the Senate following the 2014 Senate elections, McConnell became the Senate Majority Leader.
- In June 2018, he became the longest-serving Senate Republican leader in the history of the United States.
HEALTH STRUGGLES
McConnell took a dramatic fall in March 2023 at a dinner in Washington DC that left him with a concussion and broken rib.
And later that summer, after he had recovered, he sparked more concern when he totally froze up during a press conference.
During a briefing at the Capitol, he suddenly stopped speaking to reporters and went silent for 19 seconds straight.
Just weeks after this incident, he froze yet again at an event in his home state.
Capitol doctor Brian Monahan released a statement saying that McConnell wasn’t suffering from dementia or any other serious health issues.
In a conference on Tuesday, McConnell referenced this report when he was asked questions about his health.
Speaking to a reporter, he said, “I think Dr. Monahan covered the subject fully. You’ve had a chance to read it.
“I don’t have anything to add to it, and I think it should answer any reasonable question.”
