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Longtime Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont has broken a hip in a fall at his home and must undergo surgery to repair it, his office said in a statement Thursday.
The 82-year-old Democrat fell Wednesday night in McLean, Virginia, the statement said. Doctors determined the best course of action would be to have surgery to repair the hip as soon as possible.
Leahy, who was born blind in one eye, “has had a lifelong struggle with reduced depth perception,” the statement said. “He has taken some remarkable dingers over the years, but this one finally caught up with him.”
But he’s “expected to make a full recovery and begin a healthy course of physical therapy immediately.”
Leahy is the longest-serving sitting senator. He announced in November that he will not seek reelection this fall. By the time his term expires in January 2023, he will have served for 48 years in the Senate.
The Vermont senator is the last of the so-called Watergate babies, the surge of congressional Democrats elected in 1974 after President Richard Nixon resigned to avoid impeachment.
