Kentucky Republicans’ attempts to throw shade at their Democratic governor backfired when he used their attacks to call attention to Sen. Mitch McConnell’s prolonged absence.
Gov. Andy Beshear fired back at GOP adversaries who called him out for not attending the state’s Fancy Farm picnic on Saturday, noting how they haven’t shared the same indignation for McConnell’s conspicuous disappearance.
Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul and Rep. Andy Barr had criticized Beshear at the event, with Paul saying that the Democratic governor would be the state’s last.
“Sorry to miss Fancy Farm today, but let me get in on the fun,” Beshear, 48, began his series of posts. “Rand Paul apparently said I’d been ‘neutered’ by my legislature. Rich coming from a guy who’s never had a pair of balls and if he did they’d be held by Trump.”
“I’m told Andy Barr also spoke. We aren’t the same,” the Democratic governor continued. “Yes, same first name, hometown and high school, but I don’t run racist ads. Yes, Steve’s my dad, but Trump’s his daddy.”
“Funny how the Republicans are all mad I missed one political event to watch my son play baseball,” Beshear added. “But no outrage that Mitch McConnell has been nowhere to be seen for 50 days.”
The Daily Beast has reached out to the offices of McConnell, Paul, and Barr for comment. A spokesperson for Barr didn’t respond to the governor’s comments, but referred the Daily Beast to a post on X by the congressman complaining that Beshear “couldn’t even manage” to show up to the event.
McConnell, 84, also did not appear at Saturday’s Fancy Farm picnic—a major political event the former Senate majority leader has been an avid attendee of for 40 years. At last year’s event, McConnell gave a speech where he attacked Beshear, vowing to “outlast a church-closing governor.”
The senator’s staff released a statement last week clarifying that he would not be attending this year, with him supposedly saying that “there’s no place I’d rather be on the first Saturday in August than with the good people of western Kentucky.”
Saturday’s Fancy Farm crowd led a chant of “Where’s Mitch?” as the senator has stayed mysteriously out of the public eye for seven weeks.
McConnell, who’s set to retire at the end of his seventh term in January, has not been seen since he suffered a medical emergency at his Washington, D.C. residence on June 14.
Speculation swirled that he had suffered a heart attack, but his staff put out a statement that he had suffered a fall, fell “briefly unconscious,” and subsequently contracted a case of pneumonia. The statement included a “proof of life” photo of him beside his wife, Elaine Chao.
McConnell’s team shared a second photo of him recovering in the hospital in late July, but the senator has not given a video or audio statement regarding his condition. Beshear himself has repeatedly called for McConnell to address the public directly, but to no avail.
Aug. 3 marks the deadline for the state to call a special election in the case of a Senate vacancy. If McConnell does not resign or otherwise vacate the seat before then, he will hold onto it through the end of his final term in January.
