Mia Love, who made history as the first Black woman elected to Congress as a member of the Republican Party and the first Haitian American to serve in Congress, has died at 49 after battling glioblastoma. Love was a rare political figure who defied expectations during her career.
Daughter of immigrants turned member of Congress
Born Ludmya Bourdeaux in 1975, Love was the daughter of immigrants who fled the dictatorship in Haiti and relocated to the United States, living in New York and then Connecticut, The Salt Lake Tribune reported. While attending college at the University of Hartford, she converted to Mormonism and met Jason Love, who was serving as a Mormon missionary; the couple married, moved to Sarasota Springs, Utah, and had three children. In Utah, Love entered politics, becoming a city council member and mayor of Sarasota Springs. She was elected to the House of Representatives in 2014. Reelected in 2016, Love broke ranks with Donald Trump over his boasts about groping women and his insulting remarks about Haiti. Love retired from politics after losing her 2018 reelection bid by less than 700 votes.
A unique political career followed by a fight with a rare disease
According to Caribbean National Weekly, Love was the first Haitian American to serve in Congress, the first Black person to represent Utah, and the first Black woman elected to Congress as a Republican. The Washington Post reported that she was also the only Republican at the time to join the Congressional Black Caucus, initially pledging to take the group apart “from the inside out” but later praising it for its bipartisan work.
Love said in a 2018 interview, “If my leadership asked me to go after a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, I won’t do it.”
According to CNN, she was diagnosed with glioblastoma, a rare form of brain cancer, in 2022. The National Brain Tumor Society reports that over 14,000 Americans are diagnosed with glioblastoma each year, and less than 7% of those survive after five years. Several prominent politicians have died from glioblastoma, including Sens. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., and John McCain, R-Ariz., and former Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden, son of former President Joe Biden.
Family, colleagues remember and praise Love
Love’s family posted Sunday evening on her X, formerly Twitter, account that the former representative “passed away peacefully today” and that “she was in her home surrounded by family” when she died.
Condolences for Love have come from across the political aisle. Republican Utah Gov. Spencer Cox responded that he was “heartbroken” over Love’s death, reminiscing, “From the time we were mayors together I could always count on Mia as a true friend.”
Former Republican Utah Sen. Mitt Romney said Love’s “energy, enthusiasm and wit made her a stand-out member of Congress. Her faith and fortitude made her a model for me and for countless others.”
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., remembered Love as “a smart, caring, wonderful person.”
Love is survived by her husband, Jason, and their three children — Alessa, Abigale and Peyton.
