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Ridge, 75, of Bethesda, Maryland, suffered the stroke Monday morning while at home.
Ridge was conscious when he arrived at the hospital.
He underwent a procedure to remove a blood clot, which was successful.
He was in critical but stable condition early Wednesday evening.
"The family requests your prayers for a full recovery. Further updates will be provided as events warrant," his family said in a statement.
Current Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf tweeted Wednesday evening: "Frances and I are sending our prayers to the Ridge family. Wishing Governor Ridge a full and swift recovery."
Ridge is also a former US congressman, serving from 1983 to 1995, when he was sworn in for his first term as Pennsylvania governor.
He served as gov. until 2001 when he was appointed sec. of the Department of Homeland Security.
When Ridge was "aggressive technology strategy helped fuel the state's advances in the priority areas of economic development, education, health and the environment," as gov. according to an official biography.
DHS created the color-coded threat-warning system while he was sec.
Ridge left public service in 2005 when he resigned to focus on personal and family matters.
Shortly after resigning he started Ridge Global LLC, a risk management company based in Washington.
The Republican joined other prominent GOP members and endorsed Joe Biden for president in 2020.
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