Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell was escorted away from the press podium on Capitol Hill Wednesday after he suddenly froze for a prolonged period.
In mid-sentence, McConnell stopped speaking and stared into space for about 30 seconds before other senators intervened to ask him if he was alright. “Do you want to say anything else to the press?” Republican senator John Barrasso, the third-ranking Republican and a doctor, whispered to him before shuffling him away from reporters.
Odd moment: McConnell freezes at start of Senate GOP leadership press conference and is escorted to the side by his colleagues pic.twitter.com/hT5bLnstOS
— Raquel Martin (@RaquelMartinTV) July 26, 2023
Barrasso walked with McConnell for a few minutes while other senators continued to conduct the press conference. McConnell returned to address reporters, assuring them, “I’m fine.”
In March, the 81-year-old GOP Senate leader fell at an event in Washington, D.C., suffering head trauma that required hospitalization. After receiving treatment for a concussion, he was discharged five days later. As a result of having polio as a child, McConnell walks with a limp.
Many Republicans have questioned the cognitive function of certain elderly politicians, namely President Biden, whose speaking has sometimes sounded unintelligible to listeners and who has uttered gaffes multiple times since his election. They also point to 89-year-old Democratic senator Dianne Feinstein, who has a brain condition called Ramsay Hunt syndrome due to complications during her recovery from shingles. Feinstein relies on aides to perform the basic duties of her job, sources told the New York Times in May. Democratic Pennsylvania senator John Fetterman also suffered a life-threatening stroke before he was elected. During a debate performance on the campaign trail, Fetterman sputtered on stage, one of a few incoherent moments that have happened since then.
2024 GOP candidate and former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley made her opening campaign pitch that old age could make politicians unfit to serve. “America is not past our prime, it’s just that our politicians are past theirs,” Haley said in her campaign kickoff speech.
A December USA Today/Suffolk University poll showed that 50 percent of voters said they would most like a candidate between 51 and 65 years old. Twenty-five percent said they would want a candidate who is 35 to 50 years old, while just 8 percent said an ideal president would be 66 to 80 years old.