Sen. Mitch McConnell has attended the annual political picnic in Fancy Farm for decades and helped convert it from a picnic where Democrats dominated to one where they’re praised for showing up.
Republican party officials in west Kentucky attribute that massive change to McConnell. At a GOP breakfast the morning of this year’s picnic, party members gave the absent senator a 20 second standing ovation before playing a tribute to McConnell at Fancy Farm over the course of his four-decade long career.
The emcee for the breakfast, Corey Elder, said that without McConnell, “Fancy Farm would not look the same.”
But this year, McConnell missed what would have been his 31st Fancy Farm, and it’s not because of Senate business. The 84 year old said in an emailed statement a week in advance he wouldn’t make it because he’s still recovering from a fall and a bout of pneumonia that landed and kept him in the hospital just under 50 days prior to the event.
That absence has led to wild speculation, internet memes, and increasingly insistent calls for transparency. As the host for the political speaking portion of the picnic criticized Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear for declining the picnic invite to go to his son’s baseball game, a chant broke out from the crowd: “Where’s Mitch?”
Attendees at the picnic, both Democrat and Republican, wondered about the aging senator's ability to serve and wanted more information about how he’s really doing. McConnell is set to leave office at the end of his term in January and the race to replace him is in full swing. Current GOP U.S. Rep. Andy Barr faces off against former state lawmaker Democrat Charles Booker for the seat.
Some western Kentuckians, like Democrat Kolt Boddy, were adamant that McConnell owes his constituents answers.
“You feel like you don't have to answer to the people because you feel like you're sort of seeing a coronation every time you go up for reelection, you do still work for the people, and you need to answer to them,” Boddy said.
Republican Bree Snow said she respects McConnell’s privacy but Kentuckians need their full complement of lawmakers in DC.
“We need someone in that position doing the work,” Snow said. “But I would hate to say anything ugly about him.”
Fancy Farm native Sarah Darnell says she almost always skips the political speaking part of the picnic, heading straight for the barbecue and bingo. But even she wants to know what is going on with McConnell.
“Some reporters should try to barge in and see if he's still alive, or if he's on life support, or if he's really sitting there with his wife reading the paper,” Darnell said.
McConnell’s popularity has sunk significantly in his home state, driven in part by his feuds with President Donald Trump. An Emerson College poll in February had just 15% of registered Kentuckians’ approving of his job performance.
Gary Walters, a Republican who drove in from Louisville for Fancy Farm, said he’s watched McConnell’s career since before he was senator. He said McConnell’s decision to not always vote in line with Trump time erased his conservative credibility among the president’s die hard fans.
“It's almost like McConnell's kind of a Democrat in sheep's clothing,” he said.
There weren’t a whole lot of references to McConnell’s health or his absence from Republicans on the stage Saturday. Congressman Barr said he’d talked to McConnell the day before over the phone.
“He shared that he looks forward to getting back to work soon, and he reminisced about the many times and many times he went to fancy farm picnics since 1984,” Barr said.
At least some Democrats are using the uncertainty around McConnell’s status to attack their Republican opponents. Booker, the Democrat up against Barr, certainly didn’t hold back.
“Andy Barr has been quiet as a church mouse. He refuses to say anything.Now, Kentucky, one thing we hate more than bullies is cowards,” Booker said.
McConnell has so far rebuffed any interview requests, but says in emailed statements he is continuing to improve and hopes to return to Senate business. His term ends on January 3rd.
