According to information released by her office on Wednesday, Republican Representative Jackie Walorski of Indiana was killed in a car accident that occurred in her district. Her age was 58.
According to a statement released by Ms. Walorski’s office, the Elkhart County Sheriff’s Office contacted Ms. Walorski’s husband, Dean Swihart, and notified him of her passing. The statement added that she had “returned home to live with her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ,” and that this was the reason for her homecoming.
According to the Elkhart County sheriff, Ms. Walorski was travelling with two assistants when a passenger car and a sport utility vehicle collided head-on. Zachery Potts, 27, her district director, and Emma Thomson, 28, her communications director, were both killed in the collision. Ms. Walorski was also a passenger in the crash. The driver of the car that was coming at us was also taken out by the collision.
During the summer, when the House of Representatives is not in session, members of Congress frequently travel back to their home districts to engage in constituent outreach.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi praised Ms. Walorski, saying that she was “admired by colleagues on both sides of the aisle for her personal generosity.” Speaker Pelosi also ordered that the flags at the Capitol be flown at half-staff in Ms. Walorski’s honour. In honour of Ms. Walorski, the White House has announced that flags will be flown at half-staff on Wednesday and Thursday of this week.
She was revered by members of both parties for her work on the House Ways and Means Committee, which President Biden said in a statement.
Ms. Walorski, who was first elected to Congress in 2012 and was seen as a centrist, also served as the top Republican on the House Ethics Committee. Her election to Congress marked the beginning of her political career. She was one of the 147 Republicans who voted in favour of overturning the results of the 2020 election in the previous year.
Additionally, she did not support the impeachment of President Donald J. Trump the previous year. Her re-election bid in 2022 received support from President Trump.
Ms. Walorski was vehemently opposed to abortion, and on Tuesday she was at the Bella Vita Pregnancy Center in Knox, Indiana, a non-profit organisation that offers assistance to women who are experiencing an unintended pregnancy.
Kevin Brady, a Republican from Texas and member of the House of Representatives, said that “her Midwestern values of hard work, fairness, and friendliness were an example for members.”
Before being elected to Congress, Ms. Walorski held positions in the Indiana State House for a total of three terms, worked as a television reporter in South Bend, Indiana, and served as a missionary in Romania for a period of four years prior to that.
