requiescat in pace
Rep. Jackie Walorski and 3 others dead in car crash
Rep. Jackie Walorski (R-Ind.) was killed Wednesday along with two members of her staff — communications director Emma Thomson and district director Zachery Potts — when their SUV collided head-on with another vehicle. The driver of the other vehicle was also killed.
Walorski was 58 years old. Thomson and Potts were 27 and 28, respectively.
"Dean Swihart, Jackie's husband, was just informed by the Elkhart County Sheriff's office that Jackie was killed in a car accident this afternoon. She has returned home to be with her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ," Walorski's office said in a statement that House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) shared on Twitter.
Walorski was elected to represent Indiana's Second Congressional District in 2012 after serving three terms in Indiana House of Representatives. In 2021, she became the ranking member of the House Ethics Committee and was set to chair the committee if Republicans took back the House in November.
The U.S. Constitution requires that her seat be filled by special election.