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Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy is hospitalized with a stroke

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., appears at a news conference at the U.S. Capitol on September 18, 2025. Murphy's office says he was hospitalized this weekend with a stroke.
Chip Somodevilla
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Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., appears at a news conference at the U.S. Capitol on September 18, 2025. Murphy's office says he was hospitalized this weekend with a stroke.

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., has been hospitalized following a stroke, according to his office.

In a statement on Sunday, Murphy's chief of staff, Allison Herwitt, said he is expected to make a full recovery.

"Yesterday afternoon, Senator Murphy started experiencing numbness in his arm while at his son's hockey game," Herwitt wrote. "He was taken to a local hospital, where it was discovered he had experienced a stroke. He was transferred to Johns Hopkins for further monitoring and is responding well to treatment."

Murphy, 53, is a prominent figure in the party and has been a prolific campaign surrogate for candidates through the midterm cycle. Viewed as a possible 2028 presidential contender, Murphy has carved out a position as a foreign policy leader and champion of aggressive executive branch oversight.

He recently returned from a multistop tour in the Middle East, after which he warned that President Trump would dramatically escalate his war on Iran after the midterm election.

The lawmaker is the latest in a string of lawmakers to experience a health crisis this year. Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., missed months of Senate work during a lengthy hospital stay and rehabilitation process. Rep. Tom Kean, R-N.J., was missing from the Capitol for months for what he later announced was treatment for depression.

In 2022, three prominent Democratic lawmakers — Sen. Ben Ray Lujan of New Mexico, Chis Van Hollen of Maryland, and then-Senate candidate John Fetterman — were all hospitalized for strokes.

Copyright 2026 NPR

Eric McDaniel is a congressional reporter for NPR's Washington Desk.

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Federal funding is gone.

Congress has eliminated all funding for public media.

That means $2.1 million per year that Connecticut Public relied on to deliver you news, information, and entertainment programs you enjoyed is gone.

The future of public media is in your hands.

All donations are appreciated, but we ask in this moment you consider starting a monthly gift as a Sustainer to help replace what’s been lost.

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