The Senate’s two-week recess ends on Monday. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell will be back to work then. He made the announcement on Twitter, a nod to recent gossiping and speculation that he would retire after treatment for a concussion suffered when McConnell took a fall at a dinner event. McConnell is 81 years old so talk of retirement after his long career in public service is not out of the ordinary.

McConnell fell during a dinner event in early March. He was hospitalized and treated for a concussion. He was moved to an inpatient rehab facility a few days later. At the end of March, McConnell’s office announced he was back at home and working from there for the time being. It was not clear whether or not he would return to his office in the Capitol.

It’s no secret that the three Johns, Senators John Cornyn (Texas), John Thune (South Dakota), and John Barrasso (Wyoming) have thoughts of succeeding McConnell as the Republican Leader. Currently, John Thune is the Senate Minority Whip. Thune has stepped up in that position and kept in consultation with McConnell to help run the Senate GOP conference. To be clear, there has been no indication that McConnell is considering his retirement. There has been no such statement released by either himself or his office – until Thursday afternoon. He must have gotten a read on the room. He announced on Thursday that he’ll be back to work in the Capital on Monday.

https://twitter.com/LeaderMcConnell/status/16465817519242

I am looking forward to returning to the Senate on Monday. We’ve got important business to tackle and big fights to win for Kentuckians and the American people.

Josh Holmes, a McConnell adviser, pointed to Senator Rick Scott’s staff for a report published earlier Thursday that addressed the three Johns’ interest in McConnell’s job. He indicated Scott’s team was behind that. The feud between Scott and McConnell is well-known. It resulted in Scott challenging McConnell for the Senate leadership and failing spectacularly. Scott, at the time, distributed his plan for the Republicans’ agenda in the Senate and that plan did not gain one senator’s support. It was dead on arrival and Scott’s bid for Senate leadership quickly went nowhere.

Rick Scott’s team lost this narrative faster than they lost the senate. https://t.co/NJFgSGWXuT

— Josh Holmes (@HolmesJosh) April 13, 2023

Ouch.

A Scott adviser referred to Holmes as a “hatchet man” and called the tweet a strange, childish attack.

McConnell is the flip side of the Dianne Feinstein Senate saga. Both senators are in their 80s and both have missed weeks of work as they recovered from illness or injury. Feinstein is still out as she recovers from shingles. The long knives are out for her, too, from members of her own party. Both have been in the Senate for decades. McConnell has held his seat since 1985, and Feinstein has held hers since 1992. It does spotlight a problem with senators holding office for decades. They become entrenched and act entitled to just hold on to the power long past time. McConnell, before the fall, didn’t appear to suffer from fragility. Feinstein has shown the opposite, slowly fading as she will soon celebrate her 90th birthday.

The three Johns will have to wait a while longer. Mitch is preparing to return. The Republican Party has certainly benefitted from his unique expertise of the ins and outs of procedure in the Senate. He expertly guided Trump’s judicial nominees to their confirmations. When he does decide to retire, Republicans better hope there is someone who is as knowledgeable and talented when it comes to Senate leadership.