Republican senators unsure when McConnell will return after hospitalization

Senate Republicans are in the dark over Mitch McConnell’s health status or when he’ll be returning to the Senate, after their minority leader was hospitalized Wednesday evening for a fall.

“I don’t know much at this point, the best source of that is going to be his staff,” said Senate Minority Whip John Thune (R-S.D.), who said he hasn’t spoken to McConnell. “We have very limited information on it. I’m sure we’ll get more.”

The fall took place at the Waldorf Astoria hotel at a private dinner. The McConnell-aligned Super PAC Senate Leadership Fund also hosted an event in the building that evening, which several senators attended, including Thune and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.).

“I trust him and his team and his doctors to tell us what’s going on,” Graham said. “Just hope he’s doing well.”

McConnell isn’t the only senator who has been hospitalized recently. In recent weeks, Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) checked himself into Walter Reed for clinical depression. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), meanwhile, was in the hospital recently for shingles.

Senators said there’s been no communication from McConnell or his office so far, though the Kentucky Republican or his staff sometimes sends out emails to the GOP conference with significant updates.

Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) said “they haven’t told us anything” and that he found out about the fall Thursday morning.

David Popp, McConnell’s spokesperson, said in a statement released early Thursday morning that the GOP leader tripped “at a local hotel during a private dinner” and had been “admitted to the hospital where he is receiving treatment.”

McConnell, who is 81 and suffered from polio as a child, previously fractured his shoulder in 2019 after tripping on his patio at home.