Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear is directly asking Sen. Mitch McConnell, the state’s most powerful figure in Congress, to disclose more about his condition after three weeks of silence from the 84-year-old since he was hospitalized in Washington.
The letter released Wednesday from Beshear, a Democrat who is considered a potential presidential candidate in 2028, to the former Senate Republican leader says “Kentuckians have grown increasingly concerned about the current state of your health and well-being, and ability to hold office.”
McConnell, whose physical condition has visibly declined in recent years, was hospitalized June 14. He has not released a public statement, photos or videos since. Aides have disclosed nothing specific about his condition, other than to say last week that McConnell “continues to improve, and is working closely with his staff on Kentucky and Senate matters while the Senate is out of session.”
That lack of detail has fueled rampant speculation about his prognosis and whether he will return to the Senate when it reconvenes next week. The firestorm was enough that Republican Senate leaders on Tuesday made public statements saying they had talked to McConnell and that he was alert and discussing current events.
McConnell is retiring at the end of his term in January, and the campaign to elect his successor already is underway. Kentucky’s Senate succession law, which Republican legislators have twice changed during Beshear’s tenure, does not give the governor a role in picking a temporary successor should McConnell’s seat become vacant before his term ends.
Under the latest change in 2024, if the seat becomes vacant before Aug. 3, there would be a special election to pick a replacement, perhaps held concurrently with the general election in November. The special election winner could take office nearly immediately. The general election winner would be sworn in as part of the new Congress in January.
It hurts us this time, but in general it actually sounds like good common sense to me, reducing one of the big flaws of first-past-the-post elections.
Edit: I was referring specifically to the “can’t run as independent after losing primary” law, I meant to quote that initially but accidentally assumed the person I was replying to was also talking about it.
Ideally if we had something like ranked choice voting, we wouldn’t have primaries and people would get a better say on who they vote for. In FPtP, I agree that it’s a valid law to patch a flaw.
Anything is better than FPTP, but for ranked choice that’s the only thing good about it. Far too complex and doesn’t even eliminate strategic voting. Other systems are better in my opinion such as score or approval.
Any governor of any state should be able to file a petition with the court to declare a seat abandoned if they can prove X # of days of no activity…otherwise, it’s the literal definition of taxation without representation.
Oops, I meant the can’t-run-as-independent law, not the special election thing.
Yeah, that one is stupid too, designed to prevent exactly what happens when a popular candidate loses a primary. Deisgned by the GOP to prevent exactly what we’re hoping happens.
It happens on the left side also.
I can’t agree that it’s a good thing for the voters in general to have situations where voting for your favorite helps your least favorite win, even if in this specific case it would be good for us.
That’s why I like systems such as approval or score voting, but at least this reduces it slightly.
I would love ranked-choice voting to be implemented nationwide, but since the GOP knows it kills their chances, they’d never allow it to happen.