Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Connecticut) holds a rally in front of the U.S. Capitol on Thursday, May 26, 2022, to demand gun safety measures from the Senate in response to the Robb Elementary School shooting in Texas. On the left is California Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla.
Tom Williams | CQ-Roll Call Inc. | Getty Images
Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Connecticut, was hospitalized Saturday after suffering a stroke during his son’s hockey game, his office announced Sunday.
A statement from Chief of Staff Alison Harwitt said Murphy was “awake and alert.”
“Yesterday afternoon, Sen. Murphy began experiencing numbness in his arm during his son’s hockey game. He was taken to a local hospital, where it was determined that he had suffered a stroke. He was transferred to Johns Hopkins University for further monitoring and is responding well to treatment,” Hurwitt said.
Johns Hopkins Hospital’s main campus is in Baltimore, but it also has other locations in and around Washington.
“Doctors are encouraged by his progress,” Hurwit said. “We are optimistic that he will make a full recovery.”
Murphy, who was elected to the Senate in 2013, is not running for re-election on Tuesday, but he has crisscrossed the country in search of Democratic candidates, making recent stops in Michigan, Minnesota and Florida. He was scheduled to campaign with Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Chris Pappas in New Hampshire on Sunday.
He is seen as a potential presidential candidate in 2028 and has also contributed significantly to fundraising for the Democratic Party.
Murphy, 53, spent six years in the House of Representatives before running for the Senate. He rose to national prominence as an advocate for stricter gun laws in the wake of the Sandy Hook shooting in his home state. He has been a vocal critic of President Donald Trump and has opposed the Iran war and the White House’s deportation policies.
He is one of several sitting senators to have suffered a stroke in recent years.
Democratic Sen. Ben Ray Luján of New Mexico and Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland each suffered strokes in 2022. Pennsylvania Democratic Sen. John Fetterman, who was running for office at the time, also suffered a stroke just days before the state’s Senate Democratic primary.
“Thinking of my great friend and colleague Chris Murphy. I know how hard he is fighting and I am confident that we will welcome him to the Senate soon,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a fellow Connecticut Democrat, posted on X on Sunday.
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