In an absolutely bizarre and worrisome moment that was captured on film and quickly went viral on social media back when it occurred in February of this year, Democratic Rep. John Larson suffered a “medical episode” on the floor of the House of Representatives that left him unable to speak for an excruciating quarter of a minute. He then had a similar “freezing” incident in April, raising questions about why he won’t retire and calls for term limits.
Though the incident occurred in February, it has had some renewed interest and relevance online because of the calls for the numerous very elderly members of Congress, many of them Democrats, to follow in the footsteps of Nancy Pelosi’s recent announcement and retire. However, many of the elderly Democrats are not doing so, including the oldest member of the House.
So, given that Rep. Larson had a medical episode that left him unable to speak on the floor of the House, one that was initially suspected of being a heart defect or a related, corrective surgery, but later turned out to be an age-related partial seizure, the 76-year old representative who has been a congressman since 1999, is one of those who has been facing calls over 2025 to retire, and used as an example of why America needs term limits.
When the incident occurred, Larson was saying, “Don’t worry, no one on the Republican side in the House and Senate, who control both the House and Senate, is going to speak up and challenge us…” At this point, Larson stopped speaking and stared forward in silence while he worked his jaw, attempting to speak, but being unable to do so.
When the Connecticut Democrat finally managed to resume speaking, he jumped around and said, “…but we need to… protect Americans’ privacy and their Social Security… 40% of all Americans on Social Security… is the basis for their retirement and their retirement savings.”
Watch the incident here:
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He later released a statement revealing what had happened. In that statement, he began by saying, “Yesterday, at around noon, I experienced a medical incident on the House floor, when my speech momentarily paused.” He added, “Following the incident, I saw the House Attending Physician, Dr. Monahan, who referred me for further evaluation. After a round of tests, it was determined that the cause of the brief pause in my speech was a complex partial seizure.”
Continuing, he noted that he would be receiving medication to ensure the matter didn’t happen again. He said, “The doctors have prescribed medication that, according to them, will greatly reduce the chance of this happening again. I will be able to resume an active schedule, including my duties as a Member of Congress, beginning tomorrow, when I plan to be present and voting on the House floor.”
But that hopeful statement about it not happening again was incorrect. Just months later, in April, he again totally froze up while speaking to reporters, leading to calls for him to retire rather than remain in a position for which he was no longer cognitively fit.
For example, when the incident occurred, one poster on X said, “Connecticut Representative John Larson froze again in the middle of answering questions. This also happened in February during Larson’s speech on the House Floor. Larson has been the CT-1 Rep since 1999. For the love of God, what does it take to get these people to retire?” Agreeing, commenters on the post called for term limits, with one such commenter writing, “TERM LIMITS!”
Watch the second incident here:
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video