U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy continues to improve five days after he was hospitalized with a stroke, according to a spokesman who said he’s “making remarkable progress.”
Murphy, the 53-year-old junior senator from Connecticut, was hospitalized on Saturday, a day before he planned to return to the campaign trail on behalf of Democratic candidates running in Tuesday’s midterm elections.
“He’s continuing to improve and heartened by the outpouring of well wishes,” Murphy communications director Josh Sorbe said in a statement.
He didn’t provide further details when asked about his condition, recovery or hospitalization.
Murphy experienced arm numbness while attending his son’s hockey game on Saturday, Oct. 31, and was taken to a hospital. He was later transferred to Johns Hopkins Hospital where his doctors said they were “encouraged by his progress.”
“Yesterday afternoon, Sen. Murphy started experiencing numbness in his arm while at his son’s hockey game,” Murphy chief of staff Allison Herwitt said in a statement the following day.
“He was taken to a local hospital, where it was discovered he had experienced a stroke,” she said. “He is awake and alert, and we are optimistic he will make a full recovery.”
Murphy, who was not on Tuesday’s ballot, was campaigning the past several weeks in Connecticut and a handful of swing states for Democratic candidates competing in the midterms. And in early October, Murphy made a trip to the Middle East amid the ongoing war with Iran.
He was supposed to campaign in New Hampshire on the final weekend before Tuesday’s election. Murphy had also planned to attend Connecticut Democrats’ election night party in Dunkin’ Park in Hartford. That night, Gov. Ned Lamont went on to win a third term and Democrats across the board made massive electoral gains both locally and in Congress.
Murphy was in the hospital during Election Day, but he had cast an early vote in Connecticut’s elections.
He’s seen as a potential 2028 presidential contender or someone who can ascend in Senate leadership. And Murphy became a go-to campaign surrogate this election cycle.
Over the past few days, Democratic lawmakers and officials noted Murphy’s absence and credited his campaigning and fundraising as a key contribution to the blue wave that swept the party back into the majorities in both chambers of Congress.
At a post-election event outside the state Capitol on Wednesday, Connecticut Democrats highlighted Murphy’s long-term work as a campaigner.
“Chris is somebody who has always, always fought to not just help the people running for office in this state, in this country, but to really drive towards serious change in this country, whether that was when he was in the state legislature or now as a member of Congress,” State Comptroller Sean Scanlon, who’s a former Murphy staffer, said Wednesday. “And I know Chris is paying attention and watching.”
“No one is with us more in spirit right now than my great friend and colleague Chris Murphy,” U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said Tuesday night from the election watch party in Hartford.
“I will tell you when I go back to Washington to fight Donald Trump and this corrupt administration, Chris Murphy will be on my side,” he continued. “I look forward to welcoming him back to the United States Senate to continue this fight as a partner, as a colleague, as a wonderful friend.”
After a month-long recess for lawmakers to campaign, the U.S. Senate returns to Washington on Monday for about five more work weeks in the lame-duck session before the new Congress begins early next year.
Murphy is one of several senators to experience a stroke in the past several years.
In January 2022, U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., suffered a stroke when he was 49 and returned to work full-time about five weeks after. Several months later that year, U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., was hospitalized for about a week after a minor stroke when he was 63.
Also in May 2022, John Fetterman, who was a 52-year-old Senate candidate in Pennsylvania, suffered a near-fatal stroke just days before the Democratic primary. He went on to win the primary and has served in the U.S. Senate since winning in November of that year.
This story was originally published by the Connecticut Mirror.
