Ex-Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge hospitalized after stroke

Tom Ridge, the first U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security and former governor of Pennsylvania, was hospitalized on Wednesday after suffering a stroke.

Ridge, 75, was transferred by ambulance to a Washington, D.C., hospital in the morning after suffering a stroke at his residence in Bethesda, Md., according to a statement posted to his Twitter account.

The Ridge family wishes to share the following news about Tom. pic.twitter.com/o2IyIsYL0d

— Gov. Tom Ridge (@GovRidge) June 16, 2021

Ridge was reportedly conscious when he arrived at the hospital and later underwent a successful procedure to remove a blood clot.

He is in “critical but stable condition,” according to the statement.

“The family requests your prayers for a full recovery. Further updates will be provided as events warrant,” the statement concluded.

Ridge, according to The Associated Press, suffered a heart attack in November 2017 when he was in Texas to attend a Republican Governors Association conference.

Ridge served as governor of Pennsylvania from 1995-2001. He was named the first-ever Secretary of Homeland Security in 2003 during the George W. Bush administration, a post he served in until 2005.

Ridge, a Republican, made headlines last month when he urged the Senate to approve an independent commission to investigate the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.

He, along with Janet Napolitano and Jeh Johnson, both of whom served as DHS secretaries under Obama, penned a statement calling on the Senate to “put politics aside and create a bipartisan, independent 9/11-style commission to investigate the January 6 attack on the Capitol.”

“We must understand how the violent insurrection at the Capitol came together to ensure the peaceful transfer of power in our country is never so threatened again,” the trio added in a statement organized by the nonprofit group Protect Democracy.

Senate Republicans ultimately blocked the passage of the legislation with the measure falling six votes short of the 60 needed to surpass a legislative filibuster.