Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) will undergo surgery on Sunday after fracturing his femur in an accident at the UConn men’s basketball victory parade.
Blumenthal, 77, was in attendance to celebrate the Huskies’ national championship Saturday morning when a person taking a video of him during the procession stumbled and fell on top of the senator, according to News 12 Connecticut. The third-term Democrat was reportedly in “good spirits” when he talked to the news outlet over the phone Saturday night.
Nearly 45,000 people came out to celebrate with the UConn men’s basketball team after the Huskies defeated San Diego State in the NCAA national championship game last Monday for the university’s fifth title. Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont and Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz were also in attendance for the parade and addressed the fans who came to celebrate.
The Democratic senator is leading bipartisan efforts to crack down on TikTok, the social media app with ties to communist China. In February, Blumenthal joined Sen. Jerry Moran (R-KS) in exhorting Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to force the divestment of TikTok from its Chinese parent company ByteDance.
“TikTok, which collects the sensitive information of tens of millions of American users and plays an increasing role in our society, is well within the scope of CFIUS’s national security mandate,” Blumenthal and Moran wrote.
Blumenthal was elected to the Senate in 2010 after serving Connecticut for 20 years as attorney general.