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Rep. Gerry Connolly announces cancer diagnosis after winning re-election

Gerry Connolly
Jacquelyn Martin
/
The Associated Press File
U.S. Rep. Gerry Connolly (D–Va.) listens at an Oct. 22, 2020 event in Fairfax, Va.

The Northern Virginia congressman, 74, has represented Fairfax for decades.

RICHMOND — U.S. Rep. Gerry Connolly, a Democrat who represents Virginia's 11th Congressional District, announced Thursday that he is battling esophageal cancer.

The news comes just after Connolly, 74, won his ninth congressional term on Tuesday by defeating Republican Mike Van Meter, a Navy veteran and former FBI agent, with approximately 66.5% of the vote.

"I will attack this the only way I know how – with Irish fight and humor," Connolly said in a statement.

As he enters his new term representing Fairfax County and the City of Fairfax, the congressman said he will be undergoing chemotherapy and immunotherapy. In his statement, Connolly said he had no symptoms besides occasional abdominal aches.

"My wonderful staff and I look forward to serving you all in this new term and in the future," he said.

Gerald Edward Connolly has been a fixture in Northern Virginia politics for roughly 30 years, after he was first elected as a Fairfax County supervisor in 1995. In Congress, he has played a leading role in oversight investigations.

His tenure in the U.S. House of Representatives has not been without hardship. Last year, a man with a history of mental illness went to Connolly's district office looking to kill him with a baseball bat. Connolly wasn't there so the man, who a judge had since found not guilty by reason of insanity, attacked two staffers.

Olivia Diaz is a corps 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.