It has been nearly six weeks since McConnell cast a vote in the Senate, just days before he was rushed to the hospital on June 14 by emergency responders.
The Daily Beast made multiple requests for information with the offices of all seven other members of the Kentucky delegation about whether the members of Congress had been in contact with McConnell or even bothered to reach out to the former Senate Majority Leader. Our questions were largely met with silence.
Only Rep. Andy Barr’s office responded and simply pointed to the congressman and GOP Senate nominee’s comments in Lexington one month ago, where he told reporters after an event in Lexington that he had exchanged text messages with McConnell. That was on June 21.
The offices of Paul along with Reps. James Comer, Brett Guthrie, Morgan McGarvey, Thomas Massie and Hal Rogers did not say whether they’d been in contact with the senator or his staff.
Beshear’s office confirmed with the Daily Beast on Tuesday that the governor has still not received “any communication whatsoever” from McConnell.
The Democratic governor and rising star in the party is now facing backlash for not going further by appointing a replacement or calling a special election amid McConnell’s radio silence.
They want the senator to do his job, and if not possible, to follow the rules and get someone else in. They want the people pulling a McConnell and trying to run the clock out to suffer consequences for not doing the bare minimum that is their job.