UPDATE: Democrat Senator Released from Hospital After Stroke

MURPHY STATEMENT ON DISCHARGE FROM HOSPITAL

WASHINGTON, DC — U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) released the following statement upon discharge from The Johns Hopkins Hospital. Murphy will miss the next several weeks of votes in the Senate as he continues his recovery.

“Thank… pic.twitter.com/fKhSBtQm8T

— Josh Sorbe (@joshsorbe) November 6, 2026

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MURPHY STATEMENT ON DISCHARGE FROM HOSPITAL

WASHINGTON, DC — U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) released the following statement upon discharge from The Johns Hopkins Hospital. Murphy will miss the next several weeks of votes in the Senate as he continues his recovery.

“Thank you for the outpouring of support my family and I have received over the last few days. I want to be direct with you, so here is my diagnosis. 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. I was diagnosed with a small bleed in the thalamus region of my brain.

“The doctors are very encouraged by the progress I’ve made so far. 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.

“This has been a scary experience for me and my family, and I appreciate the continued respect for our privacy. 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. I want to extend my deepest thanks to the excellent doctors and staff at Johns Hopkins who have treated me and cared for my family.”

Statement from Dr. Jose Suarez, Chief of Neurosciences Critical Care at The Johns Hopkins Hospital:

“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.”

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A hemorrhagic stroke happens when a blood vessel in the brain ruptures and bleeds. Some of the symptoms include headaches, dizziness, trouble understanding or speaking, one-sided weakness, neck stiffness and fainting, according to the Cleveland Clinic. It’s unclear what led to the senator’s stroke.

Murphy’s chief of staff, Allison Herwitt, said in a statement Sunday that the senator had experienced symptoms a day earlier, when he “started experiencing numbness in his arm while at his son’s hockey game.”

“He was taken to a local hospital, where it was discovered he had experienced a stroke,” Herwitt said. “He was transferred to Johns Hopkins for further monitoring and is responding well to treatment.” She added that the senator was awake and alert, and the doctors were encouraged by his progress.

Murphy was not up for re-election Tuesday, but he had been actively campaigning for fellow Democrats. He’s considered a potential 2028 presidential contender.

Murphy is the deputy secretary of the Senate Democratic Caucus, a role that could change in the new Congress with his party set to take the majority early next year. He sits on the Appropriations, Foreign Relations, and Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions committees. He served in the House from 2007 to 2013 before becoming a senator that year.

Three other Democratic senators have had strokes in recent years, including Ben Ray Luján of New Mexico, Chris Van Hollen of Maryland and John Fetterman of Pennsylvania.

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