Sen. Chris Murphy out of hospital after stroke, will miss Senate votes

Connecticut Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy said Friday he had been released from a hospital after suffering a stroke last weekend.

Murphy, 53, said he will be in a rehabilitation center for the next “several weeks,” meaning he will miss votes in the Senate when Congress returns on Monday.

“The doctors are very encouraged by the progress I’ve made so far,” he said in a statement.

“In order to take my recovery seriously and get back to work on the quickest timeline possible, I will be spending several weeks at a rehabilitation center after being discharged from the hospital today,” said Murphy, who has been discussed as a possible presidential candidate in 2028.

Dr. Jose Suarez, chief of Neurosciences Critical Care at The Johns Hopkins Hospital, in a statement released by Murphy’s office, said, “Senator Murphy experienced a small hemorrhagic stroke.”

“He has shown tremendous progress, and at the current rate of improvement, we expect that he will make a full recovery following rehabilitation,” Suarez said.

Murphy had been in the hospital since having a stroke at his son’s hockey game.

“Last Saturday afternoon, I felt something was not right with my body and called 9-1-1 out of an abundance of caution, and I’m glad I did,” Murphy said in his statement. “I was diagnosed with a small bleed in the thalamus region of my brain.”

The senator said he was grateful “for the outpouring of support my family and I have received over the last few days.”

“This has been a scary experience for me and my family, and I appreciate the continued respect for our privacy,” Murphy said. “As I’m working towards a full recovery, I am staying engaged with my team and colleagues remotely, and my staff continues to carry out our legislative priorities, serve constituents, and ensure the work of my office continues uninterrupted.”

Murphy’s stroke came three days before Democratic candidates, in a stunning election result, won more than enough races to flip the Senate and House of Representatives from Republican majority control in January.

Murphy, who was not up for reelection this year, before the election had campaigned for Democratic candidates around the country, most recently in Michigan, Minnesota and Florida. He had been scheduled to campaign in New Hampshire on Sunday with Rep. Chris Pappas, who on Tuesday won election to the Senate.