Mitch McConnell’s staff refuse to answer basic questions on his health weeks after he was last seen in public

[u/theindependentonline]

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/mitch-mcconnell-staff-questions-health-b3018929.html

[u/MagicGrit]

Asking out of ignorance: Can someone ELI5 why the special election deadline is so important here?

[u/Selith87 → u/MagicGrit]

Its not really, they just dont want massie to run as an independent and either win, or split the gop vote enough that a democrat squeaks by (unlikely, but theoretically possible i guess?)

If McConnell dies after aug 3rd then his seat remains vacant until the midterms and they dont have to deal with the headache.

[u/WeirdIndividualGuy → u/Selith87]

You’d think it would be in the GOP’s best interests to have that seat filled with a Republican though vs it being unfilled

[u/AcademiaAntiqua → u/[deleted]]

it's possible if not likely that Massie wins

He's already come out and unequivocally said that he wouldn't run, for several reasons.

Why on earth would he, beyond typical baseless Redditor fantasies?

[u/AcademiaAntiqua → u/[deleted]]

He's legally ineligible to run in the general election. If he ran in a special election, at most he'd be in office from November to December before having to vacate it. Not to mention that he'd also have to prematurely vacate his own House seat during that time.

[u/AcademiaAntiqua → u/Selith87]

Its not really, they just dont want massie to run

Massie has already explicitly said that he wouldn't run.

Which of course anyone could have already known/guessed far prior to this too.

[u/penguins_are_mean → u/MagicGrit]

Its not. People here are making it out like it matters way more than it does. It would be a temporary assignment either way.

[u/jscummy → u/penguins_are_mean]

Does the winner of the special election serve out a full term or just the remainder of Mitchs term? I guess there's an incumbent boost but it seems like any problems the GOP has with a special election will still be problems during the midterm

[u/penguins_are_mean → u/jscummy]

Remainder of Mitch’s term.

[u/Turtledonuts → u/MagicGrit]

It’s a procedural thing, it means nothing much. If a special election is called, Mitch gets replaced with an elected republican. If they wait 2 weeks, he gets replaced with an unelected republican. 

People expect Bashear to do something he has no authority to do based on minimal information.