Mitch McConnell returns to Senate in wheelchair to cast first vote since June Let me count: M-i-t-c-h- -M-c-C-o-n-n-e-l-l- -r-e-t-u-r-n-s- -t-o- -S-e-n-a-t-e- -i-n- -w-h-e-e-l-c-h-a-i-r- -t-o- -c-a-s-t- -f-i-r-s-t- -v-o-t-e- -s-i-n-c-e- -J-u-n-e = 67 characters. Too long. Mitch McConnell returns to Senate in wheelchair after three months Count: 61. Still over. McConnell returns to Senate in wheelchair after three months away Count: 57. Good. But need to make it more specific and include the vote detail. McConnell wheels into Senate to vote, first time since June Count: 52. Good length, has the concrete detail of the wheelchair and the vote, the timeframe since June. But place? This isn’t really a local story in the traditional sense, it’s national. The place is the Senate/Capitol. McConnell returns to Senate in wheelchair after three-month absence Count: 59. Good. Specific, different from original, captures the wheelchair detail and timeframe. Let me verify: M-c-C-o-n-n-e-l-l- -r-e-t-u-r-n-s- -t-o- -S-e-n-a-t-e- -i-n- -w-h-e-e-l-c-h-a-i-r- -a-f-t-e-r- -t-h-r-e-e—m-o-n-t-h- -a-b-s-e-n-c-e = 60. Exactly 60. McConnell returns to Senate in wheelchair after three-month absence

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., returned to the Capitol on Monday evening in a wheelchair, casting his first vote since June 11 after spending months away recuperating from a fall at home. The 84-year-old was pushed through the Ohio Clock Corridor by an aide and appeared frail but in good spirits after three months away from his Senate colleagues.

“After two years, two decades, actually, of dodging your questions, I wasn’t sure how many of you would be here today. So I’m glad to see you. Time to get back to work, finish the job of this Congress,” McConnell told reporters outside the Senate chamber.

His vote was to confirm Matthew Byrne as a district judge for the Southern District of Ohio.

McConnell said he came back to work on the farm bill and to continue his focus on NATO and Ukraine.

“I’m here to work on the farm bill, it’s important to my state. And as I think you know I have an ongoing interest in NATO and backing up our good friends who are totally in a fight against the Russians,” he said, referring to Ukrainian forces at the front lines after more than four years of combat against invading Russian forces.

“Welcome back!” McConnell said to reporters, who returned to a busy schedule of votes after the five-week August recess.

Earlier in the afternoon, McConnell was spotted being wheeled out of his Capitol Hill townhouse by an aide and security detail while a crowd assembled on the sidewalk.

In a statement, McConnell said he was “really looking forward to being back on the Senate floor and seeing my colleagues.”

“My recovery has been a long and often frustrating process and the lingering effects of childhood polio haven’t made it any easier,” he said. “I’m still not quite back to 100 percent but I’ve assured Leader Thuen that, as I continue with physical therapy on the advice of my doctors, I will do my best to be present for tough votes when our conference needs me.”

McConnell’s return gives Republicans the votes they need to pass the farm bill out of the Agriculture Committee and to advance regular spending bills out of the Senate Appropriations Committee. The farm bill stalled in committee last month after Democrats voted against it over cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program in last year’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Republican leaders are aiming to try again this week.

McConnell was rushed to the hospital on June 14 after taking a fall at his Washington home. His office announced he was discharged in early August.