Chuck Grassley

Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley is recovering from surgery to remove a gallstone, the longtime Republican lawmaker recently announced.

Grassley said in a social media post on Monday, April 20, that he had a procedure to remove a gallstone while in Iowa over the weekend.

"I'm grateful for the excellent care from local health care providers," Grassley said in a X post. "Be back to the Capitol ASAP."

What are gallstones?

Gallstones are hardened deposits of bile — a digestive fluid made by the liver — that can form in the gallbladder, a small organ beneath the liver on the right side of the abdomen, according to the Mayo Clinic.

They can range in size from a grain of sand to a golf ball. Many people have no symptoms, but gallstones can cause sudden, intense pain in the abdomen, back or right shoulder, along with nausea or vomiting. When symptoms are significant, treatment often involves surgery to remove the gallbladder.

Diets high in fat or cholesterol, rapid weight loss, and medications containing estrogen can also increase the risk. Other risk factors, according to the Mayo Clinic, include:

Being female

Being age 40 or older

Being a Native American

Being a Hispanic of Mexican origin

Being overweight or obese

Being sedentary

Being pregnant

Eating a high-cholesterol diet

Eating a low-fiber diet

Having a family history of gallstones

Having diabetes

Having certain blood disorders, such as sickle cell anemia or leukemia

Having liver disease

Chuck Grassley's decades-long Senate tenure

Grassley, who turns 93 in September, is currently serving his eighth term in the U.S. Senate. He won reelection in 2022 by a comfortable but narrower margin compared with his past races. Grassley defeated Democrat Mike Franken with about 56% of the vote to Franken's nearly 44%.

He has served as one of Iowa's senators since 1981 and is currently the Senate president pro tempore, which goes to the longest-serving senator in the party with a majority in the chamber, placing him third in line to succeed the president.

Grassley had a 27-year-long streak of not missing any votes in the Senate, which ended in 2020 after he contracted COVID-19 and had to quarantine.

When is Chuck Grassley up for reelection?

The next time Grassley is up for reelection in 2028. He would be 95 by the time Iowans hit the polls in 2028 and 101 at the end of the term.

Cooper Worth is a service/trending reporter for the Des Moines Register. Reach him at [email protected] or follow him on X @CooperAWorth.