Mia Love, first Black Republican woman in congress, dies aged 49

Mia Love, the former US Representative who broke ground as the first Republican Black woman in Congress, has died three years after being diagnosed with cancer.

Love received her damning glioblastoma diagnosis in 2023. Word of her death was confirmed by her family yesterday (Sunday, March 23), with loved ones revealing in a statement that she had passed away “in her home surrounded by family”.

In a post on Love’s Twitter account, her family wrote: “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 today.”

“In the midst of a celebration of her life and an avalanche of happy memories, Mia quietly slipped the bands of mortality and, as her words and vision always did, soared heavenward,” it continued. “We are thankful for the many good wishes, prayers and condolences.”

As per reports, Love made history in 2014 when elected to represent Utah’s 4th Congressional District; a position she earned after she first entered politics by fighting a mosquito problem in Saratoga Springs, Utah.

Love would go on to become the only Republican member of the Congressional Black Caucus; a group consisting of Black members of Congress who work to ensure that Black Americans and other marginalized communities “have the opportunity to achieve the American Dream”.

After ultimately losing her seat by less than a percentage point, the Congresswoman joined CNN as a political commentator.

Tragically, in 2022, Love was diagnosed with glioblastoma brain cancer, or GBM. Glioblastoma starts as a growth of cells in the brain or spinal cord, and can grow rapidly to invade healthy issue.

The MD Anderson Cancer Center gives those diagnosed with GBM a prognosis of one-and-a-half to two years. Five year survival rates stand at just 10 percent.

Rest in peace, Mia Love.