(CNN) — Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear has a message for Sen. Mitch McConnell: Either the state’s senior senator should explain his long absence from the Senate and give details about his health, or resign.
Beshear sent a new, blunt letter on Monday to McConnell, the former Senate majority leader who hasn’t been seen in public for 43 days since being hospitalized, suggesting that the governor’s doubts that the photos — another of which was released earlier Monday — show an honest portrayal of the senator’s health.
“I am addressing this letter to Senator McConnell under the assumption that he is capable of reading and responding verbally, and not incapacitated by means of consciousness or cognition. If the Senator is unable to respond for either of those or other conditions, consider this letter a demand for his Senate staff to be honest and transparent with the people of Kentucky,” Beshear writes in the letter, written on state government letterhead and obtained by CNN.
McConnell’s office released a statement earlier on Monday in which McConnell says he wants to get back out in Kentucky but is not yet medically cleared to leave a rehab facility. His statement included an update from the Office of the Attending Physician, which serves the medical needs of members of Congress.
Beshear, who is considering a run for president in 2028, says that’s not enough.
“Even the attending physician’s written statement does not discuss your actual condition, including whether you can speak, reason, or carry out your duties as a senator. I understand anyone’s desire for privacy, but when you run for office and serve as one of a state’s two US senators, you willingly abdicate much of your personal privacy,” Beshear wrote.
“As Governor of the state you serve, I am calling on you to directly and verbally address the people of Kentucky and provide proof of your capacity to serve, or resign,” he continued.
In many states, the governor is empowered to fill a Senate seat before a special election is held, but the state’s Republican-dominated legislature has taken steps in recent years to reduce Beshear’s power.
In 2021, the Kentucky legislature passed a law requiring the governor to appoint a replacement from a list of candidates provided by the outgoing senator’s party. Then, in 2024, they went even further and removed the governor’s ability to name a replacement at all, requiring the office to only be filled by a special election.
However, it’s possible this law violates the state constitution, which gives the governor broad power to fill vacancies in “all offices for the State at large.” Complicating the matter further is the 17th Amendment to the US Constitution, which gives state legislatures the power to allow governors to appoint temporary replacements.
University of Kentucky law professor Joshua Douglas called it a “contradiction,” which may have to be resolved by the courts.
“The 17th Amendment [says] the legislature may authorize the Governor to appoint a temporary replacement, the Kentucky Constitution says the Governor appoints, and the Kentucky legislature says there must be a special election,” he said in an email to CNN.
It’s also possible the seat just remains empty until the start of the next term. While the new law says the governor “shall” call a special election, it doesn’t appear to require him to do so within a certain period of time. McConnell did not seek reelection this fall.
Beshear sent a copy of the letter to Senate Majority Leader John Thune, along with an additional letter calling on him to investigate what is happening and force McConnell’s Senate staff “to be honest and transparent with the people of Kentucky.”
“Per our research, a vacancy in the Senate occurs when a senator dies, resigns, or is expelled by a vote of the Senate itself. If Senator McConnell is unwilling to voluntarily show that he still has the capacity to serve, I will insist that you as the Majority Leader of the Senate fully investigate his condition, report to the American people, and begin the process if warranted,” Beshear wrote to Thune.
McConnell, 84, has had multiple falls and health episodes in recent years that have led to hospitalizations, but the one which began on June 14 was the longest. On July 7, Thune was one of several Republican leaders who put out statements attesting to a phone call that his spokesperson said was “a lengthy and substantive conversation that covered a variety of topics, including national security.”
The-CNN-Wire
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