Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the longtime Republican chief who has appeared more and more diminished and frail after a collection of falls and a severe head harm this 12 months, froze up all of the sudden throughout a news convention on Wednesday in Covington, Ky., the second such episode he has skilled on digital camera in latest weeks.

Mr. McConnell, 81, was taking questions from reporters after an occasion hosted by the Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce when he was requested for his ideas on operating for re-election in 2026. Mr. McConnell, who appeared thinner and paler than he has in latest months, started to reply the query with a slight chuckle and abruptly stopped talking for about 30 seconds, standing immobile as he gripped his lectern together with his mouth pursed and his eyes mounted.

When an aide approached to ask if he had heard the query, he mumbled “yes,” however he appeared unable to proceed talking or to maneuver.

It was the second such incident in two months, and the scene intensified questions on Mr. McConnell’s well being situation, his skill to serve and his future within the Senate.

Mr. McConnell had a concussion in March when he fell at a Washington hotel throughout a fund-raising occasion, and was absent from the Senate for weeks whereas giving nearly no updates on his well being standing. Since then, he has had not less than two extra falls, which his workplace didn’t disclose.

Then final month, Mr. McConnell froze midsentence throughout an look at his weekly news convention within the Capitol and was briefly escorted away from the microphones to get better.

Two neurologists who seen video of the news convention on the time stated it may have been a mini stroke or partial seizure. But Mr. McConnell’s workplace declined to share particulars about his well being, together with whether or not he consulted with a doctor after the incident.

After Wednesday’s episode, a spokesman stated that Mr. McConnell had felt lightheaded through the news convention and as a security measure deliberate to seek the advice of with a doctor earlier than his subsequent occasion. His workplace offered no additional details about the incident.

Mr. McConnell, who was elected to a seventh time period in 2020 and this 12 months surpassed Mike Mansfield, Democrat of Montana, for the title of longest-serving Senate chief, has made it clear he has no plans to step down from main the Republican convention and has not acknowledged any bodily illnesses.

He has shared little details about his well being, attempting to venture that he’s going about enterprise as traditional regardless of repeated episodes that elevate questions on his situation. Mr. McConnell, a cussed survivor who overcame polio in childhood to rise to the head of politics, has dedicated his life to wielding energy within the Senate, and colleagues and shut observers regard him as just about unable to think about stepping down.

Even with the Mansfield milestone behind him, and a political occasion led by former President Donald J. Trump drifting away from him, Mr. McConnell has dismissed any hypothesis that he would retire. “I’m not going anywhere,” he informed reporters earlier this 12 months.

Still, the latest string of medical incidents has made his colleagues involved about his well being and his ability to play a role in leading Republicans. Some have famous that his diminished state has meant that he stayed on the sidelines of the debt ceiling negotiations, one thing a youthful McConnell would by no means have finished and that left many Senate Republicans in the end sad with the end result of the deal.

Mr. McConnell needed to depend on different members of his management staff, like Senator John Thune of South Dakota, to step in and lead the convention for him when he was absent for weeks, recovering from a concussion. Since then, his well being has continued to lift questions on a possible change coming to Republican management within the Senate.

On Wednesday, inside a convention room in Kentucky the place Mr. McConnell was talking, his aides appeared flustered by the senator’s abrupt spell.

“I’m sorry, you all, we’re going to need a minute,” an aide informed the assembled reporters because the senator stood mute and immobile. She conferred briefly with Mr. McConnell and a person who gave the impression to be a member of his safety element, who requested him if he needed to step outdoors.

Mr. McConnell appeared to withstand efforts to be led away, saying he was “OK” and staying briefly to attempt to reply extra questions from the media. But his talking appeared labored and barely slurred, and he was guided elsewhere inside minutes.

Last month after freezing up within the Capitol, he shortly returned to his news convention and carried on together with his common schedule for the day. He tried to minimize any considerations about his well being or his skill to guide the Republican convention within the Senate.