RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — U.S. Rep. Gerry Connolly, a Democrat who represents Virginia’s most populous county in Congress, said Thursday he is battling esophageal cancer.
The announcement comes after Connolly, 74, handily won his ninth term in the House of Representatives on Tuesday by defeating Republican Mike Van Meter, a Navy veteran and former FBI agent, in Virginia’s 11th district.
“I will tackle this the only way I know how – with Irish fight and humour,” Connolly said in a statement.
As he begins his new term representing Fairfax County and the wealthy suburbs outside Washington, the congressman will undergo chemotherapy and immunotherapy, he said. In his statement, Connolly said he had no symptoms apart from occasional stomach aches.
“My wonderful staff and I look forward to serving you all in this new term and into the future,” he said.
The congressman has been a fixture in Northern Virginia politics for about three decades, having first been elected Fairfax County supervisor in 1995. In Congress, he has played a leading role in surveillance investigations.
His term as a congressman was not without problems. Last year, a man with a history of mental illness went to Connolly’s Fairfax, Virginia, district office to kill him with a baseball bat. Connolly wasn’t there, so the man, who has since been found not guilty by reason of insanity by a judge, attacked two staffers.
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Olivia Diaz is a staff member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
