Mitch McConnell Rolled Into the Senate in a Wheelchair Monday and Cast His First Vote in 95 Days. He Fell in June, Was 'Briefly Unconscious,' and Says Childhood Polio Has Slowed His Recovery.

Sen. Mitch McConnell returned to the Senate floor on Monday for the first time in more than three months, entering the chamber in a wheelchair and casting a vote to advance a judicial nomination as his colleagues came back from a five-week summer recess.

"Today, I'll cast my first Senate vote since I took a bad fall back in June," the 84-year-old Kentucky Republican said in a statement ahead of his return. "I'm really looking forward to being back on the Senate floor and seeing my colleagues." In brief comments to reporters before the vote, he said: "Time to get back to work to finish the job for this Congress. I'm here to work on the farm bill." He then voted to advance Matthew Byrne's nomination to be a U.S. district judge for the Southern District of Ohio.

McConnell last voted on June 11. Three days later, his office announced he had been hospitalized, the same day emergency medical personnel were dispatched to his Washington home to respond to an unconscious person, according to a public EMS dispatch call that did not name him. His office later said he had fallen and was "briefly unconscious." For weeks afterward, the office said only that he was "fully engaged" with staff, and a few senior Republicans said they had spoken with him by phone. With few details, speculation about his condition spread.

It was not until July, after Kentucky's Democratic governor, Andy Beshear, formally requested an update, that McConnell issued his first statement since the hospitalization. He confirmed the fall and said he had been moved to a rehabilitation center. On Aug. 6, nearly two months after he was admitted, his office said he had been discharged to continue recovering at home.

On Monday, McConnell offered a franker account than he had all summer. "My recovery has been a long and often frustrating process, and the lingering effects of childhood polio haven't made it any easier," he said. "I'm still not quite back to 100%, but I've assured Leader Thune that, as I continue with physical therapy on the advice of my doctors, I will do my best to be present for tough votes when our Conference needs me." He acknowledged the delay in disclosing his condition, saying he had hesitated "to share the vulnerability that comes with getting older."

The fall was the latest in a series of health episodes. In 2023, McConnell was hospitalized with a concussion after a fall, and later that year he froze mid-sentence while speaking to reporters on two separate occasions. He was hurt in another fall in 2024. In February of this year, his office said he spent more than a week in the hospital with flu-like symptoms.

McConnell is the longest-serving party leader in Senate history, having run the Republican conference from 2007 until he stepped down after the 2024 elections. He announced last year that he would not seek another six-year term, and he leaves office in January. Republicans are contesting his open seat in November.

His vote matters in the meantime. Republicans hold a 12-11 majority on the Senate Agriculture Committee, where the farm bill he says he came back to finish is pending, and his absence had left the panel evenly split. Senate Majority Leader John Thune has a full fall agenda that includes government funding, which the House extended through Dec. 11 earlier this month, and a string of nominations that Republicans want cleared before the midterms.