Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) announced on Wednesday that he may need part of a finger amputated after suffering a major injury while doing yardwork this past weekend.
The senator told Fargo radio station KFGO that he was working in the backyard of his home in Bismarck when a large boulder rolled over his right hand.
The injury was serious enough to require immediate surgery.
“I continue to remain in North Dakota close to medical care as there is a high risk of infection and the possible need for amputation,” Cramer said in a statement. “I am alert and in good spirits.”
He plans to return to Washington, D.C. after the Fourth of July holiday.
Although most politicians specialize in pressing the flesh, the nature of the injury means Cramer will be, as he put in the statement below, “doling out a lot of left-handed fist bumps.”
The Associated Press noted that Cramer’s injury means he will miss the remaining days of votes and hearings this week as the Senate is advancing a bipartisan gun safety package, which could pass by week’s end.
Last week, he suggested that the upcoming midterm elections are galvanizing Republican voters more than efforts to keep guns away from the mentally ill, in the wake of recent mass shootings.
“I think we’re more interested in the red wave than we are in red flags, quite honestly, as Republicans, and we have a pretty good opportunity to do that,” Cramer told reporters.