Kentucky’s Democratic governor has issued a formal written demand that 84-year-old Sen. Mitch McConnell publicly demonstrate he can still perform his duties, or resign, after more than 40 days without a public appearance.
Gov. Andy Beshear sent the letter Monday, one day after McConnell’s office confirmed the Republican senator had not been medically cleared to leave the rehabilitation facility where he has been recovering since a June 14 fall at his home that briefly left him unconscious. McConnell’s office declined to comment on the letter.
Beshear’s demand raises a legitimate question that cuts across party lines: What does a state’s electorate deserve to know when one of its two U.S. senators disappears from public life for weeks on end? But the governor’s motives are not above scrutiny, either. He is a Democrat pressing a Republican senator to vacate a seat, and he has dodged questions about whether he would appoint a Republican to fill it.