Tennessee state senator hospitalized after medical emergency during floor session

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee state Sen. Steve Southerland experienced a medical emergency during a floor session Monday and was taken to the hospital.

Other senators came to his aid and removed Southerland from the Senate chamber, before emergency personnel attended to him and took him to the hospital, said Adam Kleinheider, a spokesperson for the Senate speaker’s office. Southerland was alert when he was taken out.

His condition was not immediately clear Monday evening.

Southerland, 69, is a Morristown Republican who was first elected to the state Senate in 2002 and reelected multiple times since. He serves as the chairman of the Senate Energy, Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee. He serves District 9, which goes through Cocke, Greene, Hamblen, Sevier and Unicoi counties.