Monahan added: “Occasional lightheadedness is not uncommon in concussion recovery and can also be expected as a result of dehydration.” He referred to an incident in early March in which McConnell fell and suffered a concussion and a broken rib at a private dinner at a Washington hotel. The Kentucky Republican was absent from the Senate for nearly six weeks as he recovered from his injuries. He returned to the Senate in April.
On Wednesday, McConnell appeared to freeze for more than 20 seconds while taking questions from reporters after an event in Covington, Ky. A spokesman for McConnell said afterward that the Republican leader “felt momentarily lightheaded and paused during his press conference.” The episode was similar to one in July, in which McConnell froze mid-sentence at a news conference at the Capitol, and had to be escorted away.
Both incidents have prompted questions about McConnell’s ability to continue serving in his role. With the Senate on its summer break until Tuesday, Republicans were scattered across the nation and globe unable to speak directly to McConnell, 81. They instead relied on phone calls and texts to talk to the leader and each other about another health episode for their beleaguered colleague.
Allies of McConnell continued to rally around the longest serving Senate GOP leader in history.
“I talked to Senator McConnell yesterday, and he seemed to be doing fine,” Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.), a McConnell confidant, told constituents at an event Thursday in Dallas.
Cornyn was one of at least a handful of Republicans who McConnell phoned after his freezing episode Wednesday, when he fell silent for more than 20 seconds at an event in northern Kentucky where he took questions from local press, including one about whether he would run for reelection when his current term is up in 2026.
Aides appeared at his side to help McConnell, a polio survivor as a child who has been battling balance issues that caused several falls the past four years, and eventually the GOP leader took a couple more questions. It played out almost identically to the July 26 incident in the Capitol, where he froze for about 20 seconds in the middle of his opening remarks at a weekly news conference, and other senators helped usher him away and then he returned a few minutes later to take a few questions.
These moments — brushed aside as “light headedness” in official staff statements — followed the GOP leader’s serious fall in early March.
Publicly, senators remain very supportive of McConnell and no GOP senator has questioned whether he should set a timeline for resigning his leadership post, which he has held since January 2007.
“We all wish him well,” Cornyn said Thursday.
If Republicans grow dissatisfied with McConnell’s continued practice of keeping his health as a private concern, they could request a special meeting of the GOP conference to discuss the matter, needing just a handful of signatures to prompt such a discussion. So far no Republican has made such a call and privately senior aides believe senators will want to actually see McConnell, and one another, in person next week before deciding if that is even necessary.
But the public nature of Wednesday’s incident proved jarring again for senators, raising concerns about how their GOP leader was faring. His current term as leader is slated to go through the end of 2024, which is already the longest for any Senate leader.
Mike Mansfield (D-Mont.) served all 16 years as majority leader, while McConnell has served six in the majority and 10-plus years as minority leader.
Mariana Alfaro and Marisa Iati contributed to this report.
