Anne Evans Estabrook says she suffered a mini-stroke on Monday morning that has forced her to end her bid for the Republican U.S. Senate nomination.

“On Monday morning, at approximately 7:45 AM, I noticed in the mirror that the left side of my face was drooping slightly and that I was losing control of my left arm,” Estabrook said. “After several hours of testing, the doctors confirmed that I had suffered a Transient Ischemic Attack (TIA) or mini-stroke.”

Estabrook says she has not suffered any long term damage, but “the bad news is that once the condition presents itself, there is a high likelihood it could happen again.” 

Anne Estabrook’s departure from the United States Senate race takes a potentially strong general election candidate out of the running for a party that hasn’t won a Senate contest since 1972.  Her withdrawal means Republicans lose a candidate who was prepared to self-fund a campaign to oust the four-term incumbent, Frank Lautenberg.  Estabrook was experiencing some of the obstacles that normally go to first time candidates -- not entirely unlike Lautenberg’s 1982 campaign against Millicent Fenwick – but Republicans expected that by November, she would emerge as a fierce competitor against the 84-year-old incumbent.  In time, the skills that made Estabrook successful in business and philanthropy would likely have extended to her political career.  Her outsider status and her money made her the candidate Democrats feared most in a general election.