Former Utah Rep. Mia Love, the first Black Republican woman elected to
the US House, has died
[March 24, 2025]
By HANNAH SCHOENBAUM and MATTHEW BROWN
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Former U.S. Rep. Mia Love of Utah, a daughter of
Haitian immigrants who became the first Black Republican woman elected
to Congress, died Sunday.
She was 49.
Love's family posted news of her death on Love's X account.
She had undergone recent treatment for brain cancer and received
immunotherapy as part of a clinical trial at Duke University’s brain
tumor center. Her daughter said earlier this month that the former
lawmaker was no longer responding to treatment.
Love died at her home in Saratoga Springs, Utah, according to a
statement posted by the family.
“With grateful hearts filled to overflowing for the profound influence
of Mia on our lives, we want you to know that she passed away
peacefully,” her family said. “We are thankful for the many good wishes,
prayers and condolences."
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox referred to Love as a “true friend" and said her
legacy of service inspired all who knew her.
Love entered politics in 2003 after winning a seat on the city council
in Saratoga Springs, a growing community about 30 miles (48 kilometers)
south of Salt Lake City. She later became the city’s mayor.
In 2012, Love narrowly lost a bid for the House against the Democratic
incumbent, former Rep. Jim Matheson, in a district that covers a string
of Salt Lake City suburbs. She ran again two years later and defeated
first-time candidate Doug Owens by about 7,500 votes.
Love didn’t emphasize her race during her campaigns, but she
acknowledged the significance of her election after her 2014 victory.
She said her win defied naysayers who had suggested that a Black,
Republican, Mormon woman couldn’t win a congressional seat in
overwhelmingly white Utah.
She was briefly considered a rising star within the GOP and she kept her
distance from Donald Trump, who was unpopular with many Utah voters,
while he was running for president ahead of the 2016 election.
In an op-ed published earlier this month in the Deseret News, Love
described the version of America she grew up loving and shared her
enduring wish for the nation to become less divisive. She thanked her
medical team and every person who had prayed for her.
Love said her parents immigrated to the U.S. with $10 in their pocket
and a belief that hard work would lead to success. She said she was
raised to believe passionately in the American dream and “to love this
country, warts and all.” America at its roots is respectful, resilient,
giving and grounded in gritty determination, she said.
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Republican U.S. Rep. Mia Love, center, kisses her daughter Abby
while hugging her sister Cyndi Brito, after she addresses supporters
during an election night party, Nov. 6, 2018, in Lehi, Utah. (AP
Photo/Rick Bowmer, File)
Her career in politics exposed Love to America's ugly side, but she
said it also gave her a front row seat to be inspired by people's
hope and courage. She shared her wish for neighbors to come together
and focus on their similarities rather than their differences.
“Some have forgotten the math of America — whenever you divide you
diminish,” Love wrote.
She urged elected officials to lead with compassion and communicate
honestly with their constituents.
“In the end, I hope that my life will have mattered and made a
difference for the nation I love and the family and friends I
adore,” Love wrote. “I hope you will see the America I know in the
years ahead, that you will hear my words in the whisper of the wind
of freedom and feel my presence in the flame of the enduring
principles of liberty. My living wish and fervent prayer for you and
for this nation is that the America I have known is the America you
fight to preserve.”
In 2016, facing reelection and following the release of a 2005
recording in which Trump made lewd comments about groping women,
Love skipped the Republican National Convention and released a
statement saying definitively that she would not vote for Trump. She
instead endorsed Texas Sen. Ted Cruz in the GOP race, but he dropped
out months later.
While seeking a third term in 2018, Love tried to separate herself
from Trump on trade and immigration while still backing her party's
positions on tax cuts. Despite Republican voters outnumbering
Democrats by a nearly three-to-one margin in her district, though,
she lost by fewer than 700 votes to Democrat Ben McAdams, a former
mayor of Salt Lake City.
Trump called out Love by name in a news conference the morning after
she lost, where he also bashed other Republicans who didn’t fully
embrace him.
“Mia Love gave me no love, and she lost,” Trump said. “Too bad.
Sorry about that, Mia.”
After her loss, Love served as a political commentator on CNN and as
a fellow at the University of Sydney.
Following Trump’s election in November, Love said she was “OK with
the outcome.”
“Yes, Trump says a lot of inconsiderate things that are unfortunate
and impossible to defend," Love wrote in a social media post.
“However, his policies have a high probability of benefiting all
Americans.”
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