In his home state of Kentucky, Mitch McConnell froze up in a routine public event. McConnell was standing, still untangling and seemingly unable to answer a question from the reporter asking 81 year old about whether or not he would run for reelection in 2026, holding tightly to his lectern. An aide escorted the senator away and he did not return to the event. In the last few weeks, it’s been the second time something like this has happened to him in public.
But the next day, the U.S. Capitol doctor said the senator was cleared to continue with his work as planned. The doctor’s statement was light on details about what might have happened but stated: “Occasional lightheadedness is not uncommon in concussion recovery and can also be expected as a result of dehydration.”
“The statement is perfectly accurate and could still be happening several months later,” said Lee Schwamm, a neurologist and stroke specialist at Yale School of Medicine. They do not go on to state, however, whether they believe that this is a medical cause of his symptoms which we have seen in front of camera or not.
For a moment, McConnell’s health was in the spotlight. In 2020, he had a deep bruise on his hands and face area, but remained adamant that it wasn’t an accident. He gave no explanation. And McConnell was injured in an accident at the Washington hotel in March 2023. He hit his head and fractured a rib, his office confirming he suffered a concussion. He was unable to return to the Senate for six weeks following the incident. It is widely suspected that this isn’t the last downturn McConnell has experienced over the past year.
In July, McConnell suddenly lapsed into silence when he answered a reporter’s question during his daily press conference. He’s got to be escorted out, but just as soon as the press conference was over he came back.
In all of this, McConnell’s office had not been very open with us about his state of health. But the physicians who spoke with Slate wondered what led to Senator’s actions, and how they felt about this explanation by a United States Capitol physician.
Doctors rarely get the chance to see a patient’s spells on camera, and, in McConnell’s case, two of his freeze-up moments were caught on tape. Schwamm noted that McConnell was looking up to the right, but he could hold his lectern and not fall over or lose consciousness while also unable to speak. ‘That’s a very, very strong sign of partial seizure.’
In view of McConnell’s first public appearance in the Capitol, where he was able to return a few minutes later and continue as usual, Schwamm said, “there is near complete recovery, which also strongly suggests that this is a partial seizure.” But McConnell’s office has not said anything about a seizure, attributing both incidents to lightheadedness.
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