After nearly 40 years as a US senator, it is time for Mitch McConnell to retire: Opinion

After nearly four decades in office, 81-year-old Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R) has shown he is no longer capable of adequately representing Kentucky in the U.S. Senate. Retiring from public office is best for both McConnell and Kentucky as a whole.

Even though McConnell froze during a recent press conference and had to be escorted away behind closed doors by his colleagues, he has remained obstinate in his intent to stay in his position at least through the end of the 118th Congress in 2025. McConnell’s intent to cling to his power was communicated in the wake of reports confirming the octogenarian had undisclosed falls in 2023 – including a “face plant” after stepping off a plane in July and a fall in Helsinki, Finland. These are both in addition to the fall McConnell suffered in March that left him with a concussion and an injured rib, keeping him away from his duties for nearly six weeks.

As Senate Minority Leader, McConnell is paid an annual salary of $193,400. This is fair pay for a job as demanding as representing the interests of more than 4.5 million Kentuckians. But if Kentucky’s senior U.S. senator can’t be present, alert, lucid and healthy enough to do the job, then that arguably amounts to taxation without full representation. It’s also fair to question McConnell’s mental fortitude given that he’s one of the “Gang of Eight” routinely briefed on the most classified U.S. intelligence the government possesses.

This isn’t simply to pick on McConnell or to score partisan points: Californians have been making a similar argument about 90-year-old Senator Dianne Feinstein (D), who was absent for three months with shingles and encephalitis and recently had to have her staff instruct her to “just say aye” on an $823 billion defense spending bill. Google searches for “gerontocracy” (rule by the elderly) recently spiked according to Google Trends.

Republicans balking at the possibility of Governor Andy Beshear (D) appointing McConnell’s potential replacement have nothing to fear. Yes, state law stipulates that the governor appoint a U.S. senator’s replacement to serve the remainder of the term until the next statewide election. But Kentucky’s Republican legislative supermajority passed a law in 2021 requiring that any replacement senator come from the same party as the outgoing incumbent.

As a Democrat, I don’t have many nice things to say about Mitch McConnell. He ossified the U.S. Senate with a legacy of unprecedented obstruction, carried out a judicial heist of what should have been Barack Obama’s third Supreme Court appointment, did a rhetorical 180 when rushing to confirm Amy Coney Barrett to fill the seat vacated by Ruth Bader Ginsburg with just weeks to go before the 2020 election, and hinted at stealing another potential appointment from President Biden in 2024. But he’s undoubtedly delivered for Kentuckians, most often in the form of federal earmarks (i.e. pork projects) McConnell snuck into must-pass appropriations bills. There’s no shame in retiring at age 81, and the sooner McConnell does it, the better.

Carl Gibson is a freelance columnist whose work has been published in CNN, the Guardian, the Washington Post, the Houston Chronicle, Barron’s, Business Insider, the Independent, and NPR, among others. He lives in the Highlands.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Mitch McConnell is 81 years old. It is time for the senator to retire