Walorski, 58, a Republican who represented Indiana’s 2nd congressional district in the House of Representatives, was mourned by President Joe Biden and her colleagues in Congress as an honest public servant who tried to work across party lines to deliver to her voters. The White House said flags will be flown at half-staff in her memory. The congresswoman was traveling on an Indiana road Wednesday afternoon with her chief communications officer, Emma Thompson, 28, and one of her regional directors, Zachary Potts, 27, the Elkhart County Sheriff’s Office said. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register “A northbound passenger car traveled left of center and collided head-on” with Walorski’s vehicle, killing all three occupants, the sheriff’s office said. The driver of the other car, 56-year-old Edith Schmucker, was pronounced dead at the scene, near the northern Indiana town of Nappanee, he added. Confirming her death in a statement shared on Twitter by House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy, Walorski’s office said: “Dean Swihart, Jackie’s husband, has just been notified by the Elkhart County Sheriff’s Office that Jackie was killed in a car accident this afternoon.” Representative Jackie Walorski (R-IN) speaks as U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar testifies before the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Crisis on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., October 2, 2020 J. Scott Applewhite/Pool via REUTERS He added: “Please keep her family in your thoughts and prayers. We will have no further comment at this time.” Walorski was a lifelong resident of Indiana, according to her official biography. She served on the House Ways and Means Committee and was the top Republican on the subcommittee on worker and family support. Before her 2012 election to the House, Walorski served three terms in the Indiana Legislature, spent four years as a missionary in Romania with her husband and worked as a television news reporter in South Bend, according to a biography published in Congress of. Website. President Joe Biden, a Democrat, said he and Walorski “may have been from different parties and disagreed on many issues, but she was respected by members of both parties for her work on the House Ways and Means Committee on which she served.” . House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a statement that Walorski “passionately brought the voices of her northern Indiana constituents to Congress and was admired by colleagues on both sides of the aisle for her personal kindness.” Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register Reporting by Rami Ayyub, Eric Beech, Dan Whitcomb, Costas Pitas and Frank McGurty. Editing by Leslie Adler and David Gregorio Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
