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Democratic US Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut was hospitalized after suffering a stroke, his chief of staff said on Sunday. She said he is awake, alert and responding well to treatment, and that his office is optimistic he will make a full recovery.
Days earlier, he had warned that the Trump administration could try to restart the war with Iran after the midterm elections.
“The doctors are encouraged by his progress,” Allison Herwitt, Murphy’s chief of staff, said in a statement.
Murphy began experiencing numbness in his arm on Saturday afternoon while attending his son’s hockey game, Herwitt said. He was taken to a local hospital, where doctors discovered he had suffered a stroke. He was then transferred to Johns Hopkins for further monitoring.
His staff began notifying people of the hospitalization on Saturday afternoon. The statement did not say how long he is expected to remain hospitalized or give details about the type or severity of the stroke.
Murphy has been traveling the country to campaign for candidates, with recent stops in Michigan, Minnesota and Florida. He had been scheduled to attend campaign events in New Hampshire on Sunday.
Sen. John Fetterman, a Pennsylvania Democrat who had a stroke in 2022 that he later described as near fatal, said on social media that he was “rooting for Chris and his family for a full and speedy recovery.” “As someone who survived a near-fatal stroke, I understand all too well how much this impacts your life,” he said.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, Murphy’s fellow Connecticut Democrat, said, “I know how fiercely he fights & I’m certain I’ll be welcoming him back to the Senate soon.”
Murphy is one of several sitting senators to have experienced strokes in recent years. Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland said in 2022 that he had been hospitalized by a minor stroke, and Sen. Ben Ray Lujan of New Mexico was also hospitalized for a stroke that year. Then-Sen. Mark Kirk, an Illinois Republican, suffered a stroke in 2012.
At an event hosted by the Middle East Institute last week, Murphy said Trump was reportedly planning to restart the war with Iran after the election. He said he could not share details but had been briefed on the plan by Pentagon officials in what he described as a “fairly detailed conversation.”
Murphy said reports had described a “short duration plan,” then rejected that characterization. “Their plan is insane,” he said, adding that it would lead to “devastating escalation and the likely destruction of our commitment to the rule of law.”
News reports said the Pentagon was reinforcing missile defenses and preparing additional warships and aircraft for possible strikes after Tuesday’s midterm elections. Coverage of his remarks included no response from the Pentagon or the White House.
Murphy is viewed as a potential 2028 Democratic presidential candidate, though he has not announced a campaign. Speculation about his ambitions grew in 2025 after he reported raising $8 million in the first three months of that year, even though his Senate seat is not up for reelection until 2030.
He joined the Senate in 2013 after six years in the House of Representatives. He became a leading advocate for stricter gun laws after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, which occurred just weeks after he won his 2012 Senate race. In 2016, he held the Senate floor for nearly 15 hours to demand stricter gun laws.
Murphy is also a prominent Democratic voice on foreign policy and has urged his party to be more aggressive in checking Trump. He is a junior member of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s leadership team.
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