Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-Vermont) is pausing his 2020 presidential campaign after undergoing heart surgery to remove an artery blockage, CNBC reports.
Sanders, 78, experienced chest pain during an event Tuesday in Las Vegas, Nevada. A medical evaluation revealed a blockage in one artery and he had two stents inserted, according to the senator’s advisor Jeff Weaver.
“Sen. Sanders is conversing and in good spirits. He will be resting up over the next few days,” Weaver said Wednesday. “We are canceling his events and appearances until further notice, and we will continue to provide appropriate updates.”
Sanders was in Las Vegas for a memorial ceremony on the two year anniversary of the largest gun massacre in U.S. history.
During Sanders’ 2016 presidential run, his longtime doctor, congressional physician Brian Monahan, found the senator to be in “very good health,” with no history of cardiovascular disease.
As the oldest candidate in the presidential race, the senator said in a Politico interview last year that he’s aware his age could become a part of the conversation, but that he’s “blessed with [his] health.”
“It’s part of a discussion, but it has to be part of an overall view of what somebody is and what somebody has accomplished,” Sanders, 77 at the time, said. “Look, you’ve got people who are 50 years of age who are not well, right? You’ve got people who are 90 years of age who are going to work every day doing excellent work. And obviously, age is a factor. But it depends on the overall health and well being of the individual.”