Minnesota Governor, Mark Dayton, collapsed while delivering his State of the State speech on Monday, January 23.
The politician began slurring his words before falling to a heap behind his podium, as legislators rushed to help him.
Fortunately, despite the frightening incident, the 69-year-old’s chief of staff, Jaime Tincher, confirmed the governor is now recovering.
“Tonight, Governor Dayton briefly fainted after speaking for about 40 minutes,” said the statement released on Twitter. “He quickly recovered, walked out of the Capitol, and returned home. EMTs joined the Governor there, and performed a routine check. He is now spending time with his son and grandson.”
His son, Eric Dayton, also confirmed his father was on the mend.
“I’m with my dad and he’s doing great,” he posted to social media. “Thank you all for kind-wishes and words of concern.”
Dayton, who turns 70 on Thursday, was approximately 40 minutes into his address when he paused for a sip of water.
He resumed his speech but was slurring, before shaking and crumbling to the ground.
He hit his head and someone was heard frantically shouting: “Get him to the ground. Get him to the ground please.”
Dayton was on the floor for several minutes before walking out of the chamber assisted.