Andy Beshear Writes Another Sternly Worded Letter To The Manager As The GOP Continues To Hide Mitch McConnell

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Jul 29, 2026 - 17:00

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Andy Beshear Writes Another Sternly Worded Letter To The Manager As The GOP Continues To Hide Mitch McConnell

National Action Network Holds Its Annual Convention In New York City — Source: David Dee Delgado / Getty

As the GOP continues to play a month-and-a-half-long game of Where On Earth Is Sen. Mitch McConnell, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear is done playing, and he’s demanding that the Republican senator from his state prove his “capacity to serve” or resign his seat, once and for all.

As we previously reported, on Monday, after McConnell’s office released a second proof-of-life photo and statement that failed to convince many people that the 84-year-old is still drawing breath on this Earth, Beshear noted that it had been 43 days since McConnell showed up to work, as he has been hospitalized since June 14 after suffering what a previous statement of his claimed was a “fall” that left him in need of extensive rehabilitation. According to the Washington Post, Beshear’s letter charged that aside from the two proof-of-life photos — both of which have McConnell in his hospital bed alongside his wife, Elaine Chao, with both of them offering the same awkward struggle smile to the camera — the senator has “made no effort to communicate with your Kentucky constituents or the nation.”

Seriously, if “blink if you’re being held against your will” was a photo, McConnell and his wife took two of them.

Beshear’s letter doesn’t just demand that McConnell say plainly whether or not he still has the physical and mental capability to serve as an active member of Congress, but it presents an ultimatum to the good senator, saying if he doesn’t make a decision one way or another soon, he’ll demand that Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-South Dakota), who also received a copy of the letter, look into the matter and take necessary action.

From the Post:

“As Governor of the state he serves, I am calling on him to directly and verbally address the people of Kentucky and provide proof of his capacity to serve, or resign,” Beshear wrote.
If McConnell does not do that, Beshear added, the governor will insist Thune “fully investigate” the senator’s condition and begin the process of vacating McConnell’s seat if warranted.
“All of this speculation and even this letter could have been avoided with a minimal amount of transparency. … Kentuckians are just asking Senator McConnell to be honest,” Beshear wrote.
McConnell’s office has not commented on the letter. Representatives for Thune did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday. In a statement from his office Monday, McConnell said that he will miss a political event in Kentucky this weekend and that he was “keeping up with intense physical therapy.”
In an accompanying statement Monday, Congress’s Office of the Attending Physician said McConnell was “not yet medically cleared to leave the rehab facility and return to the office.” The office noted that its physicians visit McConnell daily and that the senator’s childhood polio “continues to be a significant factor in his mobility.”
In his letter Monday, Beshear called out the attending physician’s written statement, saying it did “not discuss [McConnell’s] actual condition, including whether he can speak, reason, or carry out his duties as a senator.”ith a minimal amount of transparency. … Kentuckians are just asking Senator McConnell to be honest,” Beshear wrote.

As I’ve noted twice now, McConnell’s office has done everything to prove McConnell is alive except have McConnell say directly into a camera that he is still alive. Just make the video and let the tech experts tell us whether it’s AI or not. Perhaps not everyone will believe it’s real regardless, but at least McConnell could say he tried.

So, what happens next if McConnell were to finally throw in the towel and vacate his seat? Well, according to the Congressional Research Service, Kentucky is one of five states that mandate Senate vacancies be filled only through a special election. So, at the very least, the GOP can’t just have a random relative of McConnell’s with no experience as a legislator fill the position, like Sen. Lindsey Graham’s sister did after he died suddenly earlier this month.

I mean, could you imagine if McConnell did resign, or if his office announced his passing, only for his family members to gather around the pond to discuss which one of them would take over Evil Yertle the Turtle’s congressional duties? Yeah — I’m glad that won’t be happening, not that it means the MAGA-fied GOP will come up with anyone who is more qualified for the job.

Interestingly enough, if McConnell’s sudden disappearance from Congress had happened five years ago, and it resulted in his resignation, Beshear could’ve appointed himself to take over McConnell’s duties via a policy that was eventually changed due to efforts that were ironically led by McConnell himself.

More from the Post:

Until 2021, Kentucky law allowed the governor to temporarily fill a Senate vacancy until a special election could be held in concurrence with the next House election. But after Democrat Beshear was elected governor, McConnell encouraged the Republican-controlled legislature to pass a law requiring the governor to choose a replacement from three options selected by the former senator’s party. Then in 2024, the legislature adopted another law removing the governor from the process entirely.
Both changes to the process for a Senate vacancy became law over Beshear’s veto. The governor has suggested the 2024 statute — removing his appointment authority and mandating a special election — is unconstitutional, pointing to a section of the Kentucky Constitution that states: “Vacancies in all offices for the State at large, or for districts larger than a county, shall be filled by appointment of the Governor.”
Beshear told MS NOW this month that he would consider challenging the law so he could choose a temporary replacement senator.
“If there is a vacancy, I will look at my authority as governor to make sure that we are represented as Kentuckians, and certainly I’ll take a strong look at that section of our Kentucky Constitution,” he said.

When it comes right down to it, McConnell and the GOP fought that policy for what is likely the same reason they won’t come right out and say McConnell is done in Washington, D.C.: they’re scared to death he will be succeeded by a Democrat. With the midterm elections fast approaching, and the GOP’s prospects for continuing its control over both chambers of Congress diminishing, it’s the last thing the Republican Party would need.

So, they’re playing politics with McConnell’s life as a bargaining chip.

There is one thing to be noted here, though: while Beshear’s sternly worded letter might appear to show that the Democratic governor has taken the gloves off, those gloves are still on snug, as Beshear, like the rest of his party, is still playing nice.

Say what you will about their Republican counterparts, but they know how to get their agenda done even if it means playing dirty politics, which it usually does. I’m just saying, if Sen. Bernie Sanders disappeared from Congress for two months because he was either hanging on by a thread or enjoying an eternal Weekend at Bernie’s vacation already, Republicans would be foaming at the mouth and employing every trick in the book to get him up outta there so they can try their damndest to replace him with one of their own, and a Republican governor would have been well past the point of sending some “I’d like to speak to your manager” letter in that effort.

The two-party system is failing us because one party is comprised of a bunch of bullies who are doing whatever they want, while the other party is hiding in the bathroom stall, eating its lunch, and threatening to tell the principal.

Something has to give.