(Jacob Bruns, Headline USA) Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., the former House majority leader and longest-standing member of the U.S. House of Representatives, was recovering after suffering a minor stroke Sunday night, CBS News reported.
Margaret Mulkerrin, a spokesperson for Hoyer, 85, said the congressman—who was, for many years, the right-hand man of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.—was doing well, despite the acute health event.
“On Sunday night, Aug. 11, Rep. Steny Hoyer experienced a mild ischemic stroke,” Mulkerrin announced.
“Mr. Hoyer has responded well to treatment and has no lingering symptoms,” she added. “He expects to resume his normal schedule next week. Mr. Hoyer’s wife and family extend their deepest thanks to his medical team.”
In response to the event, Maryland U.S. Senate candidate Angela Alsobrooks extended her best wishes to the ailing congressman.
“I am so glad to hear that my dear friend, Congressman Steny Hoyer is recovering well after experiencing a mild stroke this weekend,” she said. “We are all wishing you a speedy recovery and know you will be back delivering for Marylanders, as you always have, very soon.”
Though the corporate media has insisted via several different outlets that the stroke was mild, questions linger about Hoyer’s health due to his current race against Republican Michelle Talkington, 43, a homeschool advocate who owns a remodeling business.
Democrats are hoping to wrest away the GOP’s narrow majority in the House, but a seat-flip in the reliably blue district could be a major setback if Republicans turn out to support former GOP Gov. Larry Hogan in his Senate race against Alsobrooks.
In January, amid widespread speculation that he might retire, Hoyer announced that he would seek reelection in the 2024 election, despite his advanced age.
He told the media that he was doing so in order to help secure a Democrat majority and return unity to Washington.
“I believe I have more work to complete on behalf of my district, my state and my country,” he said in a statement at the time. “I am blessed to have the good health, strength and enduring passion necessary to continue serving my constituents at this decisive moment for Maryland and America.”
That “decisive moment,” according to Hoyer, has been caused exclusively by Republicans, whom he called “partisan and polarized,” making the latest Congress among the “least productive” on which he has served.
Even if Hoyer’s stroke proves to be more severe than initially reported, precedent suggests that Democrats might elect him anyway, under the assumption that one does not need to have a fully functioning brain to rubber-stamp the Left’s agenda.
Such was the case with Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., who suffered a severe stroke just days before the 2022 Democrat primary but was elected nonetheless.
Fetterman’s condition was no secret, but the campaign managed to conceal the extent to which it had impacted his cognitive abilities until well past the start of early voting, when he was forced into a painful debate with his opponent, Mehmet Oz.
He won the election but promptly checked himself into a mental hospital, where he spent several weeks in convalescence, fueling rumors that he might have suffered another stroke that left him brain-dead.
Democrats also long concealed the mental decline of President Joe Biden, 81, who was forced to abandon his re-election campaign only after a disastrous debate against GOP nominee Donald Trump led his already low poll numbers to plummet.
Headline USA’s Ben Sellers contibuted to this report.
