81-Year-Old Republican Lawmaker Receiving Medical Care After Fall at Capitol
An 81-year-old Republican lawmaker received medical attention at the Capitol after suffering a fall on a marble staircase, according to multiple reports.
Shortly after casting a vote that helped re-elect Mike Johnson as the House speaker, Rep. Virginia Foxx of North Carolina slipped and fell while climbing a staircase to talk to her family in the chamber’s gallery, her spokesperson told Politico.
“After being helped to her feet, and looked over by medical personnel, she proceeded on her own to the Attending Physician’s office to get treated for a few individual cuts,” the statement said. “Everything seems to be okay.”
On her X account, Foxx wrote, “Thank you to everyone for your prayers – just a few small cuts and I’m doing just fine."
“I’m a mountain woman, and we’re tougher than a $2 steak,” she added.
In the comments beneath the post, some users remarked that the accident was a sign of Foxx’s age and that she should consider retiring.
“Good but please retire when this term is up,” wrote user @pattyisright.
User @midwest_andy agreed, writing: “Time to step down. We don’t need to turn Congress into a nursing home.”
It’s not the only event of the new Congress' first day that has drawn attention to some lawmakers' advanced age.
Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, 84, made her return, visibly limping across the House floor, after her own fall on a marble staircase last month. She underwent hip-replacement surgery soon after the accident.
Meanwhile, 91-year-old Sen. Chuck Grassley was sworn in as president pro tempore of the Senate, making him third in line to the presidency. The position goes to the longest-serving member of the body’s majority party.
President Joe Biden’s time in office has been plagued by concerns about his mental clarity and age, while President-elect Donald Trump will be the oldest commander-in-chief to take office, at age 78.
