Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut was hospitalized after suffering a stroke Saturday, his chief of staff said in a statement reported Sunday by CT Mirror and ABC News.
Allison Herwitt said Murphy experienced numbness in his arm while attending his son's hockey game. He was taken to a local hospital, where doctors determined that he had had a stroke, then transferred to Johns Hopkins in Baltimore for monitoring.
Herwitt said Murphy was awake, alert and responding well to treatment. She said doctors were encouraged by his progress and his office was optimistic about a full recovery. The assessment was conveyed by his chief of staff.
Murphy, 53, is a Democrat and is not on Tuesday's ballot. CT Mirror reported that he had been scheduled to campaign Sunday in New Hampshire with Rep. Chris Pappas, who is running for Senate. Murphy had spent recent weeks campaigning in Connecticut and several swing states for Democratic candidates.
His official biography lists service on the Senate's Appropriations, Foreign Relations, and Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committees. Before his Senate election, he represented Connecticut's Fifth Congressional District for three terms in the House. Earlier, he spent eight years in the Connecticut General Assembly, where his work included the state's workplace smoking ban and stem cell investment legislation.
