The South Dakota Republican Karl Mundt left the United States Senate when he retired in 1973, but he really left when he had a stroke in 1969. A long effort to secure his resignation failed. He just stopped showing up, leaving a state with half its representation in the upper chamber. A member of Congress who wins a seat holds the seat, and gets the paycheck, until he loses an election or decides to give it up. He doesn’t have to come to work to have the job.
Sen. Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican and former Senate majority leader, had a serious medical emergency three weeks ago that left him in the hospital. With his office declining to offer details, what we know since then can be explained by dueling headlines and social media posts that say he’s “dialed in” and working from the hospital and also that he’s “brain dead.” We’ve entered the realm of the blindfolded dart game, with more speculation than information.
