Senate President Ben Albritton addresses reporters on Dec. 8, 2025, in advance of the 2026 legislative session. (Photo by Jay Waagmeester/Florida Phoenix)

Florida Senate President Ben Albritton was released from a Gainesville hospital Tuesday night after a multi-day hospitalization for a blood clot and “potential abnormality” in his heart.

Albritton, a Wauchula Republican, returned to Tallahassee late Tuesday from Gainesville’s UF Health Shands Hospital. The “potential abnormality” that doctors in the state’s capital feared they’d seen was either gone or, as Albritton put it, “God chose to heal it.”

“Above all, I want to give glory to God, for protecting me and guiding us through this difficult time. By the grace of God and through His divine healing, I am getting better,” the Senate President said Wednesday in a  written statement. “Additionally, through the knowledge and wisdom He has given to so many medical professionals, I am fully informed and can make important decisions about my health moving forward. Praise God!”

“The future is bright!” he added.

Albritton will remain under the care of a hematologist and begin a new medication regime to prevent future blood clotting, he said. He expects to undergo multiple future appointments and screenings in the coming months.

He first began experiencing chest pains Sunday morning. That night, he went to the emergency room at Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare, where physicians discovered a blood clot in his lung. He was held there overnight, and doctors the following day found a “potential abnormality” in the upper left portion of his heart.

So, Albritton was taken to Gainesville’s Shands, two hours south.

Albritton plans on taking the next few days to recuperate alongside his wife, Missy.

“I have personally received over 500 text messages of well wishes and prayers from all over the state, not including emails and calls, or the hundreds of other messages received by Missy and Senate Staff in Tallahassee and back home in District 27,” he said. “Missy and I could not be more blessed in every single way.”