Former Sen. Bob Dole hospitalized for low blood pressure

Former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole arrives for the Presidential Inauguration of Donald Trump on Capitol Hill in Washington, Friday, Jan. 20, 2017. (Saul Loeb via AP, Pool)

TOPEKA ? Former U.S. Sen. Bob Dole of Kansas has been hospitalized for low blood pressure, a spokeswoman in his Washington, D.C. law office said.

Marion Watkins said in a telephone interview that the 94-year-old Dole has been hospitalized since Sept. 13 following a routine physical that showed he had low blood pressure. She said doctors decided to admit him to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., so he could be monitored and treated with medication.

Watkins did not say how his condition is currently classified, but said, “He still hopes to be released in a matter of days.”

The fact that he was hospitalized was first made public Friday morning in a tweet from his wife Elizabeth Dole, also a former senator from North Carolina.

“Sorry to miss #InvictusGames2017. I’m with my husband, @SenatorDole, at the hospital. Please pray for his speedy recovery,” she tweeted at 8:52 a.m. Central time on Friday.

A few minutes later, Dole himself replied: “Thank you all for your prayers and well wishes. I hope to be home sipping a cosmo in a few days.”

Dole represented Kansas in the U.S. Senate for 27 years, from 1969 to 1996. He was the Republican Party’s presidential nominee in 1996, a race he lost to Democrat Bill Clinton. He was the Republican caucus leader for his last 10 and a half years, including the last two years as majority leader.

Before he was elected to the Senate, the Russell native served four terms in the U.S. House starting in 1961 from what was then the 6th District of Kansas. The 6th District was eliminated the following year and it was renumbered the 1st District.

Last week, President Donald Trump signed a bill awarding Dole the Congressional Gold Medal, one of the highest civilian honors the United States bestows.