Our colleague, Shavan Hughes, covers Congress.

In this week, she's been focused on something that happened to the Senate Minority Leader.

Mitch McConnell was at an event in Kentucky when he was asked a question about whether

he planned to run for re-election again in 2026.

And he froze up.

He was stationary.

You could see his eyes moving to one side, but he had no response.

And an aide had to intervene and repeat the question.

Did you hear the question, Senator?

Running for re-election in 2026?

She tried to gloss over this moment by implying that perhaps it was a hearing issue.

We just hadn't heard the question.

The 81-year-old senator stood frozen in silence for about 30 seconds.

So we're not talking about a long amount of time, but when you're in conversation with

somebody and there is that long of a pause, you notice it.

The problem was, this was the second time in as many months that Mitch McConnell has

frozen up like this.

And it called into question whether or not he could continue doing his duties.

And if he can, how big of a deal is that?

This is monumental.

Mitch McConnell has put his stamp on the Republican Party over a period of decades.

And so the question is, can the party continue in its current form?

...