Former U.S. Rep. Mia Love of Utah, the first Black Republican woman elected to Congress, died Sunday at 49 after battling brain cancer, her family announced on her X account.
Love, a daughter of Haitian immigrants, had been undergoing treatment at Duke University’s brain tumor center. Her daughter revealed earlier this month that she was no longer responding to treatment.
Love began her political career in 2003 when she won a seat on the city council in Saratoga Springs, a fast-growing community about 30 miles south of Salt Lake City. She later became the city’s mayor before launching a congressional bid in 2012.
Her first run for the U.S. House ended in a narrow loss to Democratic incumbent Jim Matheson. She ran again in 2014, defeating first-time candidate Doug Owens by about 7,500 votes. After her victory, Love acknowledged the significance of her election, noting that some had doubted a Black, Republican, Mormon woman could win a congressional seat in Utah.
Briefly considered a rising GOP star, Love distanced herself from Donald Trump, who was unpopular among many Utah voters during his 2016 presidential campaign. Following the release of a 2005 recording in which Trump made lewd comments about groping women, she skipped the Republican National Convention and announced she would not vote for him, instead endorsing Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.
While seeking a third term in 2018, Love positioned herself as an independent voice, diverging from Trump on trade and immigration while supporting Republican tax policies. Despite a nearly three-to-one Republican voter advantage in her district, she lost re-election to Democrat Ben McAdams by fewer than 700 votes.