By MATTHEW BROWN and HANNAH SCHOENBAUM
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Former U.S. Rep. Mia Love of Utah, a daughter of Haitian immigrants who grew to become the primary Black Republican lady elected to Congress, died Sunday.
She was 49.
Love had been present process remedy for mind most cancers, and her daughter mentioned earlier this month that the previous lawmaker was not responding to remedy. She had been receiving immunotherapy as a part of a scientific trial at Duke College’s mind tumor middle.
Love entered politics in 2003 after profitable a seat on the town council in Saratoga Springs, a rising group about 30 miles (48 kilometers) south of Salt Lake Metropolis. She later grew to become the town’s mayor.
In 2012, Love narrowly misplaced a bid for the Home towards the Democratic incumbent, former Rep. Jim Matheson, in a district that covers a string of Salt Lake Metropolis suburbs.
She ran once more two years later and defeated first-time candidate Doug Owens by about 7,500 votes.
Love didn’t emphasize her race throughout her campaigns, however she acknowledged the importance of her election after her 2014 victory. She mentioned her win defied naysayers who had advised {that a} Black, Republican, Mormon lady couldn’t win a congressional seat in overwhelmingly white Utah.
She was briefly thought of a rising star inside the GOP and he or she saved her distance from Donald Trump, who was unpopular with many Utah voters, whereas he was working for president forward of the 2016 election.
In 2016, dealing with reelection and following the discharge of a 2005 recording through which Trump made lewd feedback about groping ladies, Love skipped the Republican Nationwide Conference and launched a press release saying definitively that she wouldn’t vote for Trump. She as an alternative endorsed Texas Sen. Ted Cruz within the GOP race, however he dropped out months later.
Whereas searching for a 3rd time period in 2018, Love tried to separate herself Trump on commerce and immigration whereas nonetheless backing her social gathering’s positions on tax cuts. Regardless of Republican voters outnumbering Democrats by a virtually three-to-one margin in her district, although, she misplaced by fewer than 700 votes to former Salt Lake Metropolis Mayor Ben McAdams, a Democrat.
“Mia Love gave me no love, and she lost,” Trump mentioned. “Too bad. Sorry about that, Mia.”
After her loss, Love served as a political commentator on CNN and as a fellow on the College of Sydney.
“Yes, Trump says a lot of inconsiderate things that are unfortunate and impossible to defend. However, his policies have a high probability of benefiting all Americans,” Love wrote in a social media publish.
Initially Printed: March 23, 2025 at 7:58 PM PDT
