Fox News co-host calls for Mitch McConnell to resign if he does not return to Senate in September

A Fox News co-host urged Senator Mitch McConnell to either return to work or resign, underscoring mounting frustration over the Kentucky Republican’s nearly three-month absence from Congress.

“If he does not come back in September, he needs to step down,” Fox News contributor Joe Concha said Saturday on The Big Weekend Show.

“How many months has it been since we even heard from him directly?” he continued. “I don’t want to see, you know, proof of life photos from a hospital bed anymore. He needs to get in front of a microphone and prove that he can do this job. And if he can’t he needs to step aside. Period.”

McConnell, 84, has faced intense media scrutiny over his prolonged absence, stoking speculation about his health and fitness to serve.

The Kentucky Republican, who is set to retire in 2027, was hospitalized in mid-June, with his office offering only limited information at the time. Weeks later, the senator said in an email update that he had been admitted after a fall and developed mild pneumonia, sharing a photo of himself in a hospital bed. Last month, the former Senate majority leader was discharged from a rehabilitation facility and has not yet returned to Capitol Hill.

“On the advice of my doctors, I’ll maintain an intensive regimen of physical therapy from home during the state work period, and I’ll continue to engage with my staff and colleagues on important Senate business,” the senator said in an August 6 statement.

McConnell, who has contended with multiple health problems in recent years, has faced repeated calls to be more forthcoming about his health status.

In July, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, a Democrat, urged McConnell to “directly and verbally address the people of Kentucky and provide proof of your capacity to serve, or resign.”

Meanwhile, some of McConnell’s GOP allies have said they spoke with the 84-year-old senator by phone during his hospitalization, while others have said they remain in the dark.

“I don’t know anything,” Senator Tommy Tuberville, an Alabama Republican, told reporters on August 5 when asked if he had any update on McConnell. One month earlier, President Donald Trump said he had “no idea” how the senator was doing.

On Saturday, Rep. James Comer, a Kentucky Republican, joined The Big Weekend Show to discuss the senator’s prolonged absence. During his interview, he revealed that he had not spoken with McConnell since he was hospitalized.

“I certainly hope to see him in the Senate in the next few weeks,” Comer said. “And if he’s not, there’ll be a reason why and the Senator will be able [to] explain that to the American people. But hopefully he’ll [be] back in two weeks.”

Afterward, co-host Tomi Lahren voiced skepticism.

“I don’t know if that’s quite fair to the American people though that unelected staffers are running the show for Senator Mitch McConnell,” she said. “I think you’ve gotta play it fair here.”