U.S. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell received a less-than-warm welcome on Saturday at a high-profile home-state political gathering amid renewed scrutiny of his health after the 81-year-old lawmaker seized up midsentence during a recent Capitol Hill news conference.
At the annual Fancy Farm event, a traditional jumping-off point for the fall campaign season in Kentucky, the crowd mercilessly taunted McConnell during his speech, booing and chanting “Resign!” for five straight minutes.
Take a look —
WATCH: Mitch McConnell gets heckled by crowd during his speech for 5 MINUTES STRAIGHT.
Chants of “RETIRE” and “Ditch Mitch” completely drown him out.
TOTAL HUMILIATION pic.twitter.com/QV3pBm1dIF
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) August 7, 2023
BREAKING: Mitch McConnell met with chants of "Retire" today at Kentucky's Fancy Farm Picnic 2023 pic.twitter.com/BbGpB9IMeq
— 🌈 Tess T. Eccles-Brown, PhD (@TTEcclesBrown) August 6, 2023
“This is my 28th Fancy Farm, and I want to assure you it’s not my last,” McConnell said at the top of his breakfast speech.
It was his only reference, however vague, to his health.
McConnell’s mental health has drawn increased attention since he had to be helped leave his own news conference in Washington on July 26 after stopping his remarks midsentence and staring off into space. GOP colleagues standing behind him grabbed his elbows and escorted him back to his office. When he returned to answer questions, McConnell said he was “fine.” Asked if he is still able to do his job, he said, “Yeah.”
McConnell was out of the Senate for almost six weeks earlier this year after falling and hitting his head after a dinner event at a Washington hotel. He was hospitalized for several days, and his office later said he suffered a concussion and fractured a rib. His speech has sounded more halting in recent weeks, prompting questions among some of his colleagues about his health.
He refuses to resign and instead said will serve his full term as Republican leader — he was elected to a two-year term in January and would be up for reelection to that post again after the 2024 elections. McConnell was first elected to the Senate in 1984 and has been the Republican leader since 2007. He would face reelection to the Senate in 2026.
A rift between former President Donald Trump and McConnell has reverberated in Kentucky, where both men are prolific vote-getters. The split grew after the senator publicly refuted Trump’s claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen, ending an uneasy partnership that had helped conservatives establish a firm majority on the Supreme Court.
McConnell has been mostly silent since then and has been loath to comment on any of the indictments of Trump this year. The two have found common cause again in the candidacy of Cameron, who was the beneficiary of Trump’s endorsement during the hard-fought Republican primary for governor.
The Horn editorial team and the Associated Press contributed to this article