Senator Chris Murphy Hospitalized After a Stroke, His Office Says — Awake, Alert and Expected to Recover
Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut, 53, felt numbness in his arm at his son's hockey game on Saturday. His chief of staff said Sunday that doctors found he had suffered a stroke, that he was transferred to Johns Hopkins, and that he is responding well to treatment.
U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut has been hospitalized after suffering a stroke, his office said on Sunday, in an announcement that landed two days before the midterm elections. Murphy, 53, is not on Tuesday's ballot, and his office said he is expected to make a full recovery.
Murphy's chief of staff, Allison Herwitt, said the senator began experiencing numbness in his arm on Saturday afternoon while attending his son's hockey game. He was taken to a local hospital, where doctors discovered he had suffered a stroke, and he was then transferred to Johns Hopkins for further monitoring, according to her statement, which was carried by Reuters, USA TODAY and NPR-network stations on Sunday.
Herwitt said Murphy is responding well to treatment. The doctors are encouraged by his progress, she said, he is awake and alert, and his office is optimistic he will make a full recovery. No further medical details were released on Sunday, and this story will be updated as his office provides them.
Murphy, a Democrat, has served in the Senate since 2013 and sits on the Appropriations Committee. He is one of the Senate's leading voices on immigration and on gun legislation, work that dates to the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings in his home state. His current term runs to January 2031, so Tuesday's results do not decide his seat — but a Senate already at the center of the midterm fight will be watching his recovery.
