After Mitch McConnell’s fall, questions raised about how KY handles a US Senate vacancy
Kentucky U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell fell down the stairs in the United States Senate the afternoon of Feb. 5.
McConnell fell after voting to confirm Scott Turner as the U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. The Kentucky senator was helped up by some of his Senate colleagues.
A spokesperson for McConnell’s office confirmed the fall in a press statement asserting the 82-year-old senator was “fine.”
Wednesday’s fall is the latest in a series of health incidents McConnell has experienced in the last couple of years. The incidents have prompted questions over whether or not McConnell will seek reelection in 2026, when his senate seat is up for grabs again.
McConnell has not publicly made a commitment either way.
There have also been questions raised about what would happen if McConnell was unable to complete his term in office or if he retired before his term ends in January 2027.
Specifically, what is the process involved for filling a vacant Senate seat?
Changes on US Senate vacancies in KY
The process by which Kentucky’s governor would fill a Senate vacancy was changed in 2021, and in 2024 it was overhauled again — this time completely removing the governor from the process.
In 2021, the GOP-legislature passed Senate Bill 228, which mandated the governor select a replacement for any U.S. senator vacating the office from a list of three provided by the state executive committee of the vacating senator’s party.
Under this bill, for example, if McConnell were to have retired before his term expired, then Gov. Andy Beshear, a Democrat, would have to choose from a list of three Republicans and appoint one of those to the vacated office.
That was the law for Senate vacancies until 2024, when it was changed once more.
House Bill 622, sponsored by House GOP Floor Leader Steven Rudy, R-Paducah, strips the governor’s authority to appoint a replacement U.S. Senator and replaces that process with a special election.
A Kentucky U.S. Senate seat has not been vacated since former U.S. Sen. Alben Barkley died in office in 1956. Former U.S. Sen. Robert Humphreys was appointed to fill the seat and retired when former U.S. Sen. John Sherman Cooper was elected.
Beshear has characterized both pieces of legislation as legislative power grabs.
When the vacancy process was changed for the first time in 2021, there were some predictions that Beshear might challenge that law in court or ignore it and appoint someone himself. Additionally, Beshear vetoed HB 622 but it was overridden by the legislature.
What has happened with McConnell’s health?
In late 2024, the senator sprained his wrist and cut his face as a result of another fall in Washington.
Prior to that, he experienced two high-profile “freeze up” incidents on camera. Both occurred during the summer of 2023 — one at a press conference in Washington, and another at an event in Northern Kentucky.
In March 2023, McConnell had to go to the hospital after falling at a dinner event in Washington, D.C. That fall was worse than initially reported, a book about McConnell published last year revealed.
“He hit so hard that he lost both of his hearing aids and was bleeding at the back of his head. For a time, he also lost consciousness,” McConnell biographer Michael Tackett wrote in “The Price of Power.”
“A neurological team went into action to check for signs of bleeding or swelling in the brain and other possible trauma,” he wrote. “They quickly concluded that at a minimum the senator had suffered a serious concussion.”
This story was originally published February 5, 2025 at 4:55 PM.
