Sen. Ben Ray Lujan, who has been hospitalized since last week after suffering a stroke, is expected to make a full recovery, his office said Wednesday. The New Mexico Democrat, 49, is expected to return to the Senate in four to six weeks.
Lujan’s Senate colleagues on both sides of the aisle offered their prayers and support for his speedy recovery.
I’m wishing my friend and colleague @SenatorLujan a full and speedy recovery. https://t.co/77zf0idQsr
— Senator Mark Kelly (@SenMarkKelly) February 2, 2022
Ben, get well. You’re young, you’ll recover. We will encourage you any way we can. Take care of yourself, but looking forward to having you back on the job. https://t.co/D2t24bTKL8
— U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (@SenBillCassidy) February 2, 2022
Wishing @SenatorLujan a speedy recovery. I’m keeping him and his family in my prayers. https://t.co/7K3lXDLNAb
— Sen. Lisa Murkowski (@lisamurkowski) February 2, 2022
My thoughts are with my dear friend and colleague Senator Luján and his family. May he have a full and speedy recovery. We hope to have his voice and continued leadership back in the Senate soon.
— Sen. Maria Cantwell (@SenatorCantwell) February 2, 2022
Lujan, elected to the Senate in 2020 after 12 years in the House, is expected to make a full recovery, according to his chief of staff. But his estimated return within six weeks could hinge on a variety of factors as he recovers.
Unlike the House, the Senate does not permit proxy voting. If Lujan’s absence from the upper chamber is extended, it may delay or otherwise affect the confirmation process for President Joe Biden’s nominee to replace Justice Stephen Breyer on the Supreme Court.
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Biden has not yet announced his selection, but he has vowed to nominate a black woman to the high court. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has said the Senate will move “quickly” to confirm Biden’s nominee and “make history,” as the nominee, if confirmed, will be the first black woman on the Supreme Court.
But Lujan’s hospitalization comes at a time when Senate Democrats control the Senate with a 50-50 tie that is broken by Vice President Kamala Harris in her capacity as president of the Senate. If Lujan has not returned to the Senate by the time the confirmation process begins, Democrats would need to secure at least one Republican vote in order to confirm the nominee.
The math may shift the Biden administration’s calculations on whom the president will nominate in the hopes of winning the votes of centrist Republicans, such as Sen. Susan Collins of Maine.
But Sen. Lindsey Graham, a former chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, may also prove a winnable vote. Graham, an on-and-off ally of former President Donald Trump, was a staunch and vocal advocate for Trump’s nominees to the court but also voted in favor of former President Barack Obama’s nominees, including Justices Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor. Graham did support a move by Senate Republicans to block the nomination of Merrick Garland, who is now attorney general.
Graham has been publicly pushing Biden to nominate J. Michelle Childs, a federal district judge in South Carolina. The White House has indicated that Childs is among those under consideration for the role. Childs has also been backed by Democratic Rep. James Clyburn, also of South Carolina, the House majority whip and a top Biden ally who notably pushed him as a candidate to pledge to nominate a black woman to the Supreme Court before the state’s crucial presidential primary contest.
Graham told Politico that Childs is “the kind of person I think I could support” and said her resume could “do well with Republicans.” He also called Childs a “fair-minded, highly gifted jurist.”
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While too early to predict the trajectory of Lujan’s recovery, Democrats will have to navigate their razor-thin majority as they work to confirm Biden’s nominee to the Supreme Court. He is expected to make his selection by the end of this month.
