Sen. Chris Murphy Hospitalized After Stroke, Office Says He Is Responding Well to Treatment
Photo: AxiosSen. Chris Murphy, a 53-year-old Connecticut Democrat, suffered a stroke on Saturday and is being treated at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, his office said. Murphy began feeling numbness in his arm while attending his son's hockey game and was taken to a local hospital, where doctors determined he had had a stroke. He was then transferred to Johns Hopkins for further monitoring. On Sunday, chief of staff Allison Herwitt said doctors were encouraged by his progress, that he was awake and alert, and that the office was optimistic he would make a full recovery. His office told Newsweek on Monday that he was still responding well to treatment. It is unclear how long he will stay in the hospital or when he can return to Senate duties. Murphy was first elected to the House in 2006 and to the Senate in 2012, and is in his third term. His seat is not on the ballot in Tuesday's midterms, but he had been campaigning for Democrats, including Gov. Ned Lamont in Connecticut and Minnesota's Peggy Flanagan. He had been due to appear in New Hampshire on Sunday with Rep. Chris Pappas.
Right-leaning outlets The Blaze and Breitbart put Murphy's party in their headlines, calling him a Democrat, and lead with his condition. Breitbart's headline uses the phrase "awake and alert", relays Herwitt's statement through the Associated Press, and adds stroke background from the Mayo Clinic and a Yale Medicine neurologist, Dr. Adam Jasne. The Blaze calls the update hopeful and notes a line from Murphy about understanding how much a stroke affects life. Neither excerpt dwells on his campaign schedule. Left-leaning outlets had not reported this story at the time of writing, while right-leaning and alternative outlets had. Alternative outlets Newsweek and Axios report the same core facts but add political context: Axios calls him one of the Senate's more visible Democrats, and Newsweek lists his campaign stops and career. All sides agree on the timeline and the prognosis; they differ mainly in emphasis.
How the sides differ Right sources stress Murphy's party label and add stroke medical background; alternative sources add his campaign schedule and Senate career. Left outlets had not covered it.
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Not covering this story. None of the left-leaning outlets Crosswire tracks has reported it yet. What one side leaves out can be as telling as what the others report.
Newsweek and Axios report the stroke and Murphy's recovery using his office's statements, and add political context: his midterm campaigning, scheduled stops, and Senate career.
The Blaze and Breitbart lead with Murphy's party and the hopeful update from his office, quoting chief of staff Herwitt. Breitbart adds medical background on strokes from the Mayo Clinic and a Yale neurologist.