A member of the House who has rallied with Senator John Fetterman suffered a stroke and will be absent from the Capitol for at least six weeks.
Representative Dwight Evans, a Democrat who represents Pennsylvania, announced on Thursday that he had suffered a “minor stroke”.
He said he recently only received the diagnosis and did not realize that he was having a stroke at the time. Lingering side effects caused him to consult with a doctor who then diagnosed the stroke.
“I wanted to let my constituents know that I am recovering from a minor stroke, and I want to emphasize the word minor,” Evans wrote in the statement.
“It was minor enough that I didn’t even realize what had happened for a few days. The main impact seems to be some difficulty with one leg, which will probably impact my walking for some time, but not my long-term ability to serve the people of Philadelphia,” he said.
Evans is already away from the Capitol undergoing treatment at an inpatient rehabilitation facility. He will stay there for at least another week before transitioning to outpatient therapy.
He said he hopes to return to Congress after no more than a month and a half.
“I’m focusing on my healing and would ask for privacy during these six weeks,” he said.
Like fellow Pennsylvania Democrat Senator John Fetterman, who has been open about his ongoing struggle with his mental and physical health after suffering a stroke on the campaign trail, Evans said he hopes to “remove the stigma that sometimes accompanies strokes.”
Fetterman spent time at a mental health rehabilitation facility for clinical depression in early 2023. He continues to use assistive devices to communicate in Congress.
Evans absence expands the Republican House majority by one seat, where they currently hold 217 seats to Democrats’ 213 seats.
We didn’t know strokes were contagious—