A leading figure in the Utah Senate announced on Twitter that he recently suffered a stroke.
Sen. Daniel W. Thatcher, R-West Valley City, posted Friday evening on Twitter that he “suffered a stroke Monday night and have been in the expert hands of Jordan Valley’s doctors.”
Thatcher wrote that he is home, “resting as comfortably as Angus [his baby son] allows, and show no lasting impairment. Thank you for the thoughts and prayers.”
The tweet concludes, “I still abide,” likely a reference to Jeff Bridges’ laid-back character, The Dude, from “The Big Lebowski.”
Thatcher has represented Utah’s Senate District 12, covering parts of Salt Lake and Tooele counties, since 2011. He is running unopposed in the newly drawn District 11, which now covers much of Tooele County and part of Salt Lake County’s west side. Voting concludes on Tuesday, Election Day.
Thatcher, an electronics and low-voltage wiring contractor, most recently served as chair of the Utah Senate’s Government Operations and Political Subdivisions Committee, and on several other committees.
He was one of only four Republicans in the Utah Legislature to vote against a last-minute override of Gov. Spencer Cox’s veto of a bill banning transgender girls from high school sports.
“We want to protect our girls, but this bill hurts our girls,” Thatcher said before the vote on March 25. “It hurts the trans community; I think it violates the constitution. And I think it wastes money. It’s political theater.”
A month later, Thatcher survived against three challengers for his Senate seat at the state’s GOP convention.
This story is breaking and will be updated.
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