WASHINGTON — Democratic Senator Ben Ray Lujan of New Mexico is recovering from surgery for a stroke at a hospital in New Mexico but is expected to make a full recovery.
The 49-year-old senator began experiencing dizziness and fatigue on Thursday and checked himself into Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center in Santa Fe. He was transferred to the University of New Mexico Hospital in Albuquerque, diagnosed with a stroke in his cerebellum, affecting his balance. An official statement on his health didn’t say how long Lujan would be hospitalized.
His absence from the Capitol comes at a critical time for Democrats. They will need every vote in the coming weeks as the party tries to revive chunks of President Joe Biden’s economic agenda and moves to confirm Biden’s five nominees to the Federal Reserve as well as his choice to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer.
Lujan is a member of the Commerce Committee, which on Tuesday night put off votes scheduled for Wednesday on the nominations of Gigi Sohn to the Federal Communications Commission and Alvaro Bedoya to the Federal Trade Commission.
Patients often recover fully from cerebellar strokes if they are treated quickly, though patients can be disabled or die if the brain damage is severe, especially if the nearby brain stem is affected, according to Lee Schwamm, a professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School.
“The majority of people who have an isolated stroke in the cerebellum and undergo surgery early would be expected to have a full recovery,” a stroke specialist at Massachusetts General Hospital, said.
Senator Debbie Stabenow, a Michigan Democrat, said Lujan’s illness underscores the vulnerability of the party’s majority in the chamber.
“We’re in a 50-50 Senate. So for any of us, at any time. You saw, when a member gets COVID what happens to the schedule. That’s just what we live with every day in a 50-50 Senate.”
She added that she hopes Lujan, who was elected to the Senate in 2020 after serving a dozen years in the House, “takes the time he needs.”
