Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy was hospitalised after suffering a stroke on Saturday afternoon, his office confirmed on Sunday, November 1, saying the 53-year-old Democrat is awake, alert and responding well to treatment.
Murphy’s hospitalisation comes just two days before Tuesday’s midterm elections, in which he has been campaigning for fellow Democrats across the country, although his own Senate seat is not on the ballot this year.
According to a statement from his chief of staff, Allison Herwitt, Murphy began feeling numbness in his arm while attending his son’s hockey game on Saturday afternoon. He was taken to a local hospital, where doctors determined that he had suffered a stroke, and was later transferred to Johns Hopkins for further monitoring.
“The doctors are encouraged by his progress, he is awake and alert, and we are optimistic he will make a full recovery”, Herwitt said in the statement, which was reported by The Associated Press, Reuters and other outlets on Sunday.
His office has not said what type of stroke Murphy suffered, how severe it was, or how long he is expected to remain in hospital. No timetable has been given for his discharge or his return to Washington, and his office has not released any further medical detail.
Reuters first reported the hospitalisation on Sunday, citing Murphy’s chief of staff, while Politico reported that his staff had begun informing people about the hospitalisation on Saturday afternoon. The Wall Street Journal reported that Murphy, described as a rising star in the Democratic Party and an outspoken critic of the US war in Iran, is being monitored in a medical centre after the stroke on Saturday.
Well wishes from both parties
Messages of support arrived quickly from Senate colleagues in both parties. Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman, who survived a near-fatal stroke while campaigning for his seat in 2022, wrote on social media that he understood all too well how much a stroke affects a person’s life.
“My family is rooting for Chris and his family for a full and speedy recovery”, Fetterman wrote, according to reports of his post.
Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont said he had been with Murphy just two days earlier, encouraging Connecticut residents to vote on Tuesday. “There is no stronger advocate for our democracy, and no one who fights harder for the people of this state”, Lamont wrote on X, adding that he and his wife Annie were keeping Murphy and his family in their prayers.
Connecticut’s other senator, Richard Blumenthal, said he expected to welcome Murphy back to the Senate. Democratic Senators Chris Van Hollen of Maryland and Ben Ray Lujan of New Mexico, both of whom suffered strokes in 2022 and have since recovered, also offered support, according to The Associated Press. Republican Senators Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Pete Ricketts of Nebraska were among those sending prayers and well wishes.
Two days before the midterms
Murphy had spent much of October travelling the country on behalf of Democratic candidates ahead of Tuesday’s vote, when all 435 House seats and more than a third of the Senate are on the ballot. NBC News reported that he had been scheduled to appear in New Hampshire on Sunday, November 1.
His hospitalisation does not directly change Tuesday’s ballot in Connecticut, because his current Senate term is not up this year. He was reelected to a third term in 2024, after first winning the seat in 2012 and taking office in January 2013.
Murphy previously served three terms in the US House of Representatives, from 2007 to 2013, representing Connecticut’s 5th congressional district. He rose to national prominence as a leading voice for gun violence prevention after the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, which took place in his former House district.
In June 2016, following the mass shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, he staged a nearly 15-hour filibuster on the Senate floor demanding votes on gun control measures. He later played a key role in negotiating the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, signed into law in 2022, the most significant federal gun safety legislation in decades. He also serves on the Senate Appropriations Committee and has become one of the chamber’s most visible Democratic voices on immigration and foreign affairs.
For now, the confirmed facts remain limited but encouraging: Murphy recognised a symptom, received medical attention promptly, was diagnosed at a local hospital, and is now being monitored at Johns Hopkins, where his doctors are encouraged by his progress. Any further assessment of his recovery will depend on updates from his family, his staff or his doctors, and his office has said it is optimistic he will make a full recovery.
