Mia Love, the daughter of Haitian immigrants who made history as the first Black Republican woman elected to Congress, died Sunday at her home in Saratoga Springs, Utah. She was 49.
Love had been undergoing treatment for brain cancer and had received immunotherapy through a clinical trial at Duke University’s brain tumor center. Earlier this month, her daughter said she had stopped responding to treatment.
“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,” her family said in a statement posted to Love’s official X account. “We are thankful for the many good wishes, prayers, and condolences.”
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox called Love a “true friend” and said her legacy of service inspired all who knew her.
Love entered politics in 2003, winning a seat on the Saratoga Springs city council before becoming the city’s mayor. In 2012, she narrowly lost her first congressional bid to Democrat Jim Matheson. She returned in 2014 and defeated Democrat Doug Owens by about 7,500 votes, becoming a historic figure in Utah and national politics.
Though she rarely centered her campaigns around race, Love acknowledged the broader significance of her victory in an overwhelmingly white and Republican state.
“Many said this day would never come,” she said in 2014. “They said that a Haitian-American, first-generation, Black, Republican, Mormon woman could not win in Utah.”
During her time in office, Love often kept a measured distance from then-candidate Donald Trump, who was unpopular with many Utah voters. In 2016, after a recording emerged of Trump making lewd comments about groping women, Love refused to attend the Republican National Convention and publicly stated she would not vote for him.
That year, she endorsed Texas Sen. Ted Cruz in the GOP primary. While seeking a third term in 2018, Love attempted to maintain that independence, criticizing Trump’s policies on immigration and trade, though she continued to support the party’s tax agenda. She lost that race by fewer than 700 votes to Democrat Ben McAdams.
The morning after her defeat, Trump singled her out during a news conference.
“Mia Love gave me no love, and she lost,” he said. “Too bad. Sorry about that, Mia.”
After leaving Congress, Love served as a political commentator on CNN and as a fellow at the University of Sydney. Earlier this month, she wrote a heartfelt op-ed for the Deseret News, reflecting on her life, her illness, and the nation she loved. She expressed a desire for America to become less divided and more compassionate.
“Some have forgotten the math of America — whenever you divide you diminish,” she wrote.
In the piece, Love praised her parents, who immigrated to the United States with just $10 and a belief in the American dream. She said she was raised to believe in hard work, resilience, and the ideals of liberty — values she carried into public service.
“In the end, I hope that my life will have mattered and made a difference for the nation I love and the family and friends I adore,” Love wrote. “I hope you will see the America I know in the years ahead, that you will hear my words in the whisper of the wind of freedom and feel my presence in the flame of the enduring principles of liberty. My living wish and fervent prayer for you and for this nation is that the America I have known is the America you fight to preserve.”
